Growing Pains
by Nan119
Summary: Rewatched season 1. Needed to expand on what happened between 1 and 2. Centered on the May/Skye relationship of mentor/student. Includes everyone. Starts at the very end of Season one. Includes missions, drama, angst, humor, and familial type relationships. Will have Philinda cause they are meant to be in any universe. MamaMay. DadPhil. This will not be Ward friendly.
1. Chapter 1

The five of them followed Billy Koenig into the corridor away from the hanger. They passed by a few agents on the way to the Med Unit. A makeshift room had been made resembling a hospital room where Leopold Fitz was staying. Jemma made her way into the room and stood next to him. the others stayed back. Skye took in all the machines hooked up to her friend and let out a strangled sob. Trip's face held a grim expression and Coulson's eyes shown with anger. Ward had done this. May's eyes darkened as she looked at the young scientist. He seemed even smaller laying in the white sheets of the hospital bed. May's face drew harder. The thought that Ward, a man they had all trusted, all believed in, had done this to one of them mad her blood boil. Jemma looked at them.

"The doctors say he will most likely have some sort of brain damage from the oxygen deprivation. The longer he stays in the coma the worse it will most likely be." Jemma's voice broke at the last few words.

Coulson walked over to her and put his hand on her shoulder. "We will make sure he has the best doctors Jemma. We will help him recover."

"I know sir. It's just so ..." Her voice trailed off as small sobs started wracking through her body.

Coulson reached up and embraced the biochemist. Trip came further into the room and placed his hand on her back. Skye, who had tears streaming down her face, turned and ran out of the room.

Melinda found her back on the Bus in her bunk. Skye was curled up on the bed facing the wall. Melinda heard the sobs and saw Skye's body shaking. She sat on the bed waiting. After a few moments, Skye's sobs diminished and she curled more into herself further away from Melinda.

"Go away."

Melinda sighed. She did not do comforting well. At least not anymore. There was a time she would not have hesitated to pull the younger women into her arms and let her cry it out onto her shoulder. But that was pre- Bahrain Melinda and that Melinda no longer existed. She thought perhaps she should just go get Phil. Phil was good with emotions. But Phil had Simmons to deal with. And that left her with Skye. Melinda reached up her hand to touch Skye's shoulder. Skye stiffened.

"I would like to say that Fitz will be okay. But I can't cause I don't know that he will be. I'd like to say a lot of things Skye. I'd like it if I could tell you that everything here will be okay but I don't know that it ever will be. All I know is that you can't look back. You need to move on and you, and all of us really, need to push forward. The alternative is giving up. And if there is one thing I know you are not, it's that you are not a quitter Skye. You have proven that to me over the last few months."

Melinda waited. She could feel Skye relax. Skye shifted her body and turned around to face Melinda. Her face was tear-streaked. She sniffled a few times, wiping at her eyes, finally speaking.

"How do we do this then May?" Skye paused and her voice wavered. "How May? Ward's betrayal. What was done to Mike. All those innocent people caught in the middle." Skye sat up and hugged her legs. "Shield no longer really exists. That badge I got for like one day? Useless."

"Not true Skye. There is a Shield. We are Shield. There are more than just us. Fury made Coulson the Director and we will rebuild. We will get stronger. You will get stronger."

"Yeah how? Nothing is the same May. You don't understand. This place. Here. The bus. Was my home. I wanted it so bad. To be a part of this. It's gone."

"No Skye. It's just changed. It's still here. You are still here. You are a part of this. A big part. You've proven yourself over and over."

"Sure." Skye did not sound convinced. "Ward wasn't even trying to make me into a real agent. He was just playing a game. Following orders. Working all of us. " Skye spat out. " I hate him so much."

"And I told you to use that. Control it and your other emotions and use them when the time is right. I'll teach you."

Skye looked up surprised. "You will?" Her eyes brightened with hope. A look that Melinda did not know she had missed until now.

Skye looked down at her hands on her knees. She spoke up softly. "I could use a new SO." She refused to look up not wanting to see May's face in case it was filled with anger or disappointment.

"I told you before that I'm usually up at five. We'll start tomorrow. Tai Chi first, then some cardio work."

Skye looked up at May. May still had her hand on Skye's shoulder. May squeezed it and smiled at her. "Ward was easy on you. Don't expect me to be."

Skye smiled. "Wouldn't dream of it."

"Then we should probably move and find some bunks on this base. You need to get some sleep." Melinda offered Skye her hand. Skye took it and Melinda pulled her up. Skye grabbed her backpack. They headed off the plane in companionable silence.

Both ended up in the bunk area. They moved to the back area where there were three rooms on each side of the last hallway. Coulson was already in the last one on the right. Trip was standing in the doorway of the first one on the right. Melinda guided Skye to the middle room on the left as she positioned herself in front of the one next to it across from Coulson.

"Goodnight." Trip nodded to all as he turned into his room and shut the door.

Coulson looked at Melinda and Skye for a moment. "Jemma is going to stay in with Leo. I was too tired to fight her on it tonight but she will need some real sleep soon."

"I'll talk to her tomorrow." Melinda offered.

Phil nodded at her. "You both good?"

Skye gave him a half smile. Melinda nodded.

He looked over them both. "Get some sleep. We can all talk tomorrow. Goodnight."

"Goodnight Phil."

"Night AC." Skye turned to go into her room. "Goodnight May."

Melinda paused and looked at the young agent. " It's late Skye. How about we do 6am tomorrow. Set your alarm. Every minute you're late ten extra pushups."

Skye glanced over to see if she was serious or not. May stared back. "You serious?" Cause May had on one of her poker faces again and Skye could not read her.

"I don't ever say things I don't mean Skye. You should know that by now. And remember it." Melinda stepped into her room and slid the door closed without a sound.

Skye did likewise and looked around her room. She shrugged her backpack off and let it slide onto the floor. The bed had a mattress cover over it and some folded sheets and a pillow on top of it. The room was small but adequate. Besides the bed there was a dresser, a night stand and a small bookshelf. There was also a small closet at the foot of the bed. Skye realized she had to use the bathroom. She opened her door and ventured out retracing her steps to the end where the bath was. She stepped inside. The bath held three stalls and four showers. When she was done she hurried back to her room, quickly made her bed, took off her coat and boots and fell into the bed. She grabbed her phone and set the alarm. She shut off the light and snuggled into her pillow. Her last thought before sleep overtook her was how much this place reminded her of St. Agnes.


	2. Chapter 2

Skye woke up to her phone alarm and as she tried to shut it off, she knocked her phone to the floor. She reached down to grab the still shrilling offensive thing and leaned a bit to far, managing to fall to the floor herself with a loud thud.

She laid there trapped in her blankets, grabbing around to find her phone that she had managed to push further away when she fell. The door to her room opened and looking up, she saw the silhouette of Melinda May in the doorway. She tried to grab for the phone now under her nightstand, only managing to slam her elbow into the side. She yelped. She swung her leg around to sit up to grab her arm which was in pain, instead her left arm caught in the blanket and as she shook it to pull out, she pulled against the cord of the lamp and that crashed down too.

Melinda May stood in the doorway, ready to ask why a very loud version of "Heartbreak Hotel" was waking everyone at 5:30am. when she instead started laughing. A full on laugh. In front of her, laying on the floor completely disheveled was her new student. Skye lay tangled in sheets and blankets with her hair all over the place holding her left elbow while a lamp lay next to her broken in pieces. The music from the phone continued to play.

Skye looked at Melinda May who continued to laugh at her. Skye tried to look mad but her scowl turned into a grin. May walked over and reached down to grab the phone and turned off the blaring music. Her shoulders continued to shake from laughter even as she tossed the phone onto Skye's bed and proceeded out the door.

She turned back, raised her eyebrows at her new student, and smirked. "We'll work on your coordination first."

Skye managed to clean up the mess, get dressed and still make it to the training room at the Playground one minute before 6am. May was already there. May looked Skye up and down. Skye had thrown on a pair of yoga pants and an old sweatshirt with the sleeves cut out. She also had on her high tops.

"Take off your sneakers. We will start with basic warm ups and stretches." As May took her through the warm up, Skye wondered exactly what she had gotten herself into. After 15 minutes or so of stretching muscles that had not been stretched in like well forever, May stopped.

"Now you follow along with me. This is Tai Chi. We will start with very simple forms and breathing. Do what I do." The Tai Chi lesson was over an hour long. Afterward, May reached into the cooler and grabbed then both some water bottles. May sat on the mat and Skye sat next to her.

"This will be daily Skye. Every single morning at 5am. I expect you to be here every day, unless you have a reasonable reason to not be."

"What's reasonable May?"

"A late mission. Or an early morning mission. If you are sick. Or hurt. You miss for any other reason I will assume you are quitting. We will always start by warming up with stretching and then Tai Chi. Then we will do other things. Today we will run. Other days strength training, or I will teach you how to fight, with some sparring. I will teach proper technique and proper form."

"Okay."

"You will also take other classes. First Aid. History of Shield. Shield Weapons. Covert Operations. A foreign language. Other classes. Tests will be given. You want to be an agent, Skye, you will learn everything. Do you think you can handle it?"

"Yes."

"Also you will learn how to shoot a variety of guns. And if you say bang one time, you will most certainly regret it. Clear?"

Skye grimaced. "Crystal." "Hey May. Are you trying to talk me out of this?"

Melinda gazed thoughtfully at Skye. "No. But what I what to be sure of is your commitment to this. I will always do my best as your SO. I will expect the same from you."

"You'll get it. I promise this is what I want."

"Copy that." May answered back. "Time to run. You have anything except those." She pointed to Skye's red high tops. Skye shook her head no.

"Come with me."

They walked to the supply room. Melinda found the Shield issue sneakers. Skye tried on a few pairs till she found ones that fit. May led her thru a few leg stretches and then took off running with Skye following. They ran through the corridors and hallways, and the garage and hanger making a loop around the entire base. They ran the loop 5 times. Skye thought she was going to die. They ended the last loop back at the training room and Skye collapsed onto the mats. Melinda pulled her back up.

"Worst thing to do Skye. Here," she reached over and raised Skye's arms over her head. "Now focus on breathing. Get control and breathe in and out. " Skye looked at May who was barely out of breathe. She vowed to be the same. She was going to do this. All of it. She wanted this. She wanted to belong. This was her chance. She nodded.

"Copy that."

Half hour later Skye found herself sitting with May eating breakfast. May had made tea for them both and Skye had bowl of cornflakes with a banana. May opted for a slice of toast and an apple.

"Chinese."

May looked at her student. "What?"

"Could you teach me how to speak Chinese? For my foreign language?

May looked surprised. But she nodded. "I can."

"Cool."

May spoke up. "You should also learn conversational Spanish. It will be good to know. There's a computer program. We'll start with Spanish, Shield History, and Weapons. In between training and classes I'll teach you Chinese."

Skye took a bite of cornflakes and nodded. Just then Coulson walked in.

"Morning AC." Skye smiled at the Director.

"Hey Skye. Up early?" He nodded to Melinda.

"You have no idea."

May smirked. "Skye you should shower and change. Meet me at the shooting range in half hour. I'll give you your class books after weapons training. " May got up and put her dishes in the sink and walked out of the room. Phil sat down at the table with his coffee.

Skye rolled her eyes. "Copy that."

Phil squinted at her. "So Melinda's your SO now?"

"Yeah."

Phil reached over to squeeze her arm. " She's really a softie."

Skye nearly choked on her tea. She looked at him grinning at her.

"Sure she is. And I'm the Black Widow." Phil laughed.

"You know Melinda trained her, right?"

Skye sputtered. "Mmmmaaaay...trained Natasha Rominoff? Nooo...you're kidding.. right. Come on AC tell me you're kidding."

Phil got up and winked at her. "Am I?" He walked out with his cup of coffee. Skye stared after him wide eyed.


	3. Chapter 3

F _inally a new chapter. Sorry for the wait, I have been busy with family and work, and also writing my other 2 stories. This chapter is a lot of set up, and relationship building; necessary for the coming chapters. I promise more action and drama is to come. More angst and some fluff as well. Please note that this is not a Ward friendly story as I am following canon from Season 1. I am also not going to be completely in character with any of them as I am exploring a further family type dynamic between all the characters._

* * *

Skye wandered through the halls searching for the shooting range. She had asked an agent who had sent her in the wrong direction and now she was close to being late. She rounded a corner and sighed in relief. May was down further in the corridor. She hustled and came up behind her new SO. Which obviously was a stupid thing to do, since she was currently standing with May's arm around her throat and a gun pointed at her head. She surmised this was going to be her first lesson.

May stepped back, letting go of Skye and lowered her weapon. "That was stupid Skye. Never, ever come up behind someone like when they have a weapon in their hand unless you intend to take them out. Got it?"

Skye grinned and saluted. "Aye, aye captain." The grin disappeared quickly as Skye watched the disapproval flicker across her superior's face. "Sorry. I meant copy that."

May shook her head a bit, and then handed the gun to Skye. "You will learn this gun inside and out. You will learn how to load the gun, and how to shoot with it. With both hands. First step. Over there on that table are more rounds. First unload it and then reload it. Now Skye."

Skye moved to the table holding the gun. She looked at it and back to May. May shook her head. "Ward taught you the basics, didn't he?"

Skye nodded. "Shooting. He always handed me the gun."

Melinda May sighed. Ward wasn't training the girl to be an agent. Why would he, that might have backfired on him. Actually it did anyway, seeing how resourceful Skye was, but now she needed to be trained correctly. She would have to start from the beginning. She held her hand out. Skye obliged, giving her back the weapon.

"Watch and learn. I'm going to do it two times. Then you will do it." She unloaded the weapon slowly the first time and sped up the second. She handed the gun to Skye. "You're turn."

Skye did as she had seen May do. May watching as she had her do it over and over. Load, unload. Finally May told her to stop. She led her over to the targets, putting on ear protectors.

Skye shot at the target. She missed three completely, got two on the paper but not the target and one in the shoulder. She frowned. She sucked. She looked at May who was standing a few feet away with her arms crossed.

"How many times did Ward teach you to shoot or let you practice?"

"Um maybe four."

"Okay." Melinda took out her own gun and motioned for Skye to move. "First. Watch my body Skye. Pay no attention to the targets." She shot off her rounds slowly. Skye watched.

"Now stand here and shoot."

"I need to reload..."

Skye was cut off. "No. Just practice standing. Get comfortable with your stance and your balance. And feel the weapon in your hand. Shoot but with no bullets. I'll correct you if you need it."

Skye did as she said. As she was pretending to shoot, May walked around her. May reached out and repositioned her until Skye actually did feel more comfortable in her stance.

"Now relax. Feel the weight of the gun. Squeeze the trigger Skye, don't pull it." Practice again."

So she did. She did what May asked till her arms felt like they were going to fall off. It was when they started shaking a bit that May stopped her.

"Okay. That's enough for today. Good. You did good. Every day you will practice loading and unloading 20 times. Then you will do this. Until I feel you are ready to shoot at the target. Muscle memory Skye. That's all this is."

Skye nodded putting the gun and ammo away.

"Follow me."

Skye did as she was told. May wandered into a room that resembled a classroom. Shelves lined the walls with hundreds of books, the were three desks with computers and a few chairs around the room. There was also a sofa. May walked to one of the desks and picked up a book. A large book. She gave it to Skye. 'History of Shield' it said.

"I already studied this May, on the computer. I took a..." May stopped her with a wave of her hand.

"Book is more detailed. Plus I trust nothing you did with Ward. You are starting over." She handed Skye a notebook as well. "This computer has a lot of Shield classes downloaded. Find 'History of Shield'. In the notebook is a detailed outline to follow daily. Follow it. On the computer is the other class you will take now. Shield Weapons. There is also an outline for that class in your notebook. Follow that too. I will administer the tests when due. Any questions?" Skye shook her head.

"Good." May picked up a DVD. She handed that to Skye as well. "This program will teach you Spanish. It has daily lessons. You will do that as well." She looked at Skye expectantly.

"Roger that."

May nodded. She had just a hint of a smile on her lips. "Okay then. Start now. Break for lunch at one. Back to this and then see me at three."

"Copy that."

With that May turned and left the room. Skye sighed. She walked to the desk dropping the book and notebook onto it. She sat in the chair and turned on the computer. She opened the notebook, and started reading the outlines. She sighed, reached for the huge book and opened it.

May passed Coulson on the way back to her office. He stopped her. "How's training with Skye going?"

She looked at him. He had a smile on his face. "Well enough for the first day. She's doing everything I tell her to."

"Of course she is Melinda. She thinks the world of you. She wants to be just like you."

Melinda shook her head. "That is not a good idea. I'm too damaged. But I will make sure she can protect herself." Melinda moved to go past him.

"You are far too hard on yourself Mel."

She stared at him with a blank expression. "She's strong Phil. I'll make sure she's stronger." She turned and continued down the hallway to her office. He watched her go in then turned down the corridor she had come from. He looked in the window of the door he knew Skye was in. She was bent over the desk with her head in a large book and diligently taking notes. He smiled at her serious expression and hoped that she would be as good for Melinda as he knew Melinda would be for her. He left and continued on his way to visit with Fitz and Simmons.

A little while later, after Coulson had left, Jemma was sitting by the bedside watching Fitz. Melinda made her way in carrying a tray of food. She set it on the bedside table and smiled at Jemma. "You need to eat."

Jemma shook her head. "I'm not hungry just now. But thank you."

Melinda touched Jemma's shoulder. "I know. But you need to eat and sleep Jemma. Getting sick, you yourself will be of no help to him. You know that. Eat now. Later on you will need to sleep. "One of us will always stay in the room when you sleep Jemma."

Jemma looked at May. She was tired. She knew May was right. If she didn't take care of herself, she would be of no use to Fitz. She nodded. 'I'll try to eat some of it. I'll sleep later. I promise."

Melinda nodded. She patted her shoulder. "Let me know if there is any change in him, or if I can do anything else for you."

Jemma nodded. "Thank you." She watched May leave with a bit of a smile on her face. She was so glad they were all here together.

Skye stretched as she got up. It was almost one and she was starving. She made her way to the kitchen. No one else was there. She poked her head into the fridge. She found nothing. She opened the freezer and saw no quick microwavable stuff. She closed that and wandered over to the cabinets. She was contemplating making a can of soup when she heard someone enter the room. She turned to find her SO staring at her. Skye sighed and went back to her search for something edible. She was not good in the kitchen but there was a great possibility that Melinda May was even worse than her. She was actually hoping to see Coulson standing there so she could talk him into making her something.

"Nothing huh?"

Skye looked over. She shook her head. 'I was hoping you were AC."

"Well he made Jemma and himself lunch." She looked annoyed.

"Not you? Why not?"

"Got here too late."

Skye held up a can of tomato soup. "Can you make grilled cheese?"

"Can you?"

Skye smirked. "Only if you like them burnt."

"Okay. Open the soup. I'll give grilled cheese a go." Melinda looked like she was charging into battle. Skye smiled sadly. They were pathetic.

"I'm gonna try to be around when AC makes dinner tonight." Skye said. Melinda shook her head in agreement.

Ten minutes later they both sat at the table eating their lunch. Melinda was proud she only had to scrape a little black off her sandwich and Skye was glad Melinda gave her the best one. Hey, the soup was hot too. Melinda had grabbed some grapes as well and shared them with Skye. They sat mostly in silence with Skye only answering a few questions Melinda asked about her studies. Melinda finished first, putting her dishes in the sink, saying something about inventory of supplies, and she left the kitchen.

After Skye finished, she did both her and Melinda's dishes then went back to the room to study and read more. She had finished history and was onto the weapons class. Which was actually not that bad. She wanted to do well. She wanted to prove to Melinda she was serious. She wanted to be a proper agent. She wanted to be like Melinda May.

A little before three in the afternoon, Skye made her way to her SO's office. She knocked on the door and waited to be invited in.

"Come in Skye."

Skye entered the room. "How'd you know it was me?" Melinda just raised her eyebrows.

"How is your studying going?"

"Good. I just need to finish one assignment for the day."

"Good. You can do it while you sit with Fitz. Jemma needs to get some sleep and I promised her one of us would stay with him. I will bring you dinner and then later on relieve you. You okay with that?"

"Copy that." Skye paused for a beat before continuing. "Do you think he will be okay? That he will wake up? Cause he really needs to wake up. It's so sad to see him just laying there."

Melinda nodded. "He'll wake up. Just now though we all need to take care of Simmons."

Skye nodded. She felt so helpless. And so mad. "I hate him."

Melinda looked at her curiously.

"Ward. For what he did to Fitz. To Leo. What he tried to do to them both. What he did to us. I hate him May."

Melinda took in her student's demeanor. Skye's emotions flickered across her face. Melinda needed to remember that she too had been thru hell and back. Maybe she needed to back off training her so hard.

"Skye. Maybe we can take some time off tomorrow. Just do Tai chi and you could..."

"Could what May? Sit around and think about what happened. Sulk? Cause that would probably drive me nuts. No I want this. I want you to push me, be hard on me. Give me so much to do and make me so tired that I have no time to think about ways to kill Ward. Or to make hydra pay. Or think about what we lost. Please."

Melinda nodded. "Copy that." Her lips turned upward into one of her almost smiles. Skye smiled back.

"I'll grab my work and head to the med wing."

"Good. I will bring whatever Coulson makes for dinner around six." Skye nodded to her, and slipped out of the room. She stopped for her book and notebook. On her way, she stopped off at her room and also grabbed her laptop. She made her way to the med wing. Stopping outside Fitz's room she looked in. Jemma was sitting in the chair talking to Fitz. Skye cleared her throat and entered the room.

"Here for official duty." She smirked at Jemma.

Jemma looked up and smiled. "Really Skye, you don't have to. I can just nap here for a bit."

"Jemma Simmons! You need to sleep. You need to let us help you."

"Oh Skye. I don' t know if I can sleep."

"Well try. Hey take something if you need to. Come on Jem. You need to sleep. Being dead on your feet will not help him. Especially when he wakes up." Skye could see Jemma was still hesitant. "Jemma. I promise I'll stay here. One of us will stay here. If he wakes up - we'll get you right away. Trust me."

"Oh, I do Skye. I really do."

"Then go. Please."

Jemma looked at Fitz and back to Skye. She walked over to the door. "Please get me if anything changes. Anything at all." Skye nodded. Jemma left. Skye walked over to the chair by the bed and sat down. She placed her computer bag on the floor and her notebook on the table. She opened the history book and started reading. She read out loud.

Melinda found her slouching in the chair holding Fitz's hand and talking to him. She pushed the door open with her foot, carrying a tray of heaping food. The smell made its way to Skye and she sat up with wide eyes staring at Melinda. Melinda set the tray on the table.

"Ooooo. What is it. It smells so good." Skye almost sang.

Melinda smiled. "I kind of talked Phil into making a nice meal. I used a lot of guilt. Chicken marsala, scalloped red potatoes, vegetable bake, salad. Oh, and cheese biscuits." As she talked, Skye found her mouth watering. And as if to confirm her need for food, her stomach growled. It must of smelt the food too. She giggled.

Melinda sat on the edge of Fitz's bed and rolled the table with the tray of food between her and Skye. She and Skye dug in. Skye took a bite of the chicken and sighed in contentment.

"Oh this is amazing." She stabbed a potato and shoved that in her mouth next. They both stayed quiet, just relishing in the pleasure of eating edible tasty food for once.

After they finished, Melinda rolled the table to the side. "So did you get all the work done?"

Skye nodded. "Uhhuh. Everything."

Melinda looked at her student seeing the sleepiness and fatigue. "You should go relax for a while and than get to bed. I'll stay here for awhile. Coulson said he'd come by later. "

Skye was going to argue that she could stay longer but a huge yawn betrayed her. "Um, yeah I guess. I think I'll just head to my bunk, maybe play around on my computer for a little before bed." Melinda nodded at her. "So yeah, um.. goodnight. Five am tomorrow, right? "

"Yes Skye. So make sure you get enough sleep. Good night. Take the dishes along on your way please." Melinda sat in the chair Skye vacated and her attention was now on Fitz.

Skye gathered the tray and backed out the room pushing open the door. She glanced back one last time to see her SO holding Fitz's hand. She smiled. Maybe AC was right. Maybe her SO was a softie underneath all that gruff.

Five o'clock in the morning came much too soon. Skye shut off her alarm at 4:50 careful not to knock it on the floor this time. She threw on a pair of yoga pants and a loose fitting T-shirt, her socks and new Shield sneakers. She pulled her hair into a ponytail, and headed to the gym. On her way past the kitchen she grabbed a small bottle of orange juice and chugged it down as she made her way to the gym. She walked in and made her way to the mats where Melinda May was waiting for her. They greeted each other as Skye set her juice bottle down and both immediately warmed up and then went right into Tai chi. Skye followed Melinda's moves as best she could, with Melinda correcting her stance or moves when necessary. After Tai Chi, they did some stretching and then once again ran through the base doing five laps. Afterward, Skye once again was out of breath and Melinda was not. After they cooled down and stretched out, they made their way to the kitchen and ate breakfast. Then Skye grabbed a shower and went to work on her studies, since Melinda said she had other work to do. Later they ate lunch together as well, and then they did target practice. Once again in the late afternoon, Skye went to relieve Jemma to stay with Fitz until May brought her dinner. They ate together and then May dismissed her for the night. Skye did a little work on her computer checking a few things, and then she watched a show. She fell asleep by 10 pm.

Melinda and Skye followed this routine for the next few days. For Skye it was therapeutic. having a routine, having her mind and body occupied nearly every waking moment. For May, training Skye made her open up a little more to her student. Which her student seemed to love. Once in awhile during training May would allow Skye to see a glimpse of her past, to see the woman she was before Bahrain. In fact, on the fourth day, Melinda made it a reward. She told Skye whenever she did something beyond expectation or did something Melinda thought was impressive enough, she allowed Skye to ask her a personal question.

By the ninth day, she'd had answered two thus far. The first was how she met Coulson. Melinda had grinned at Skye's reaction when she had told her that she had run him over trying to get away from the upper class cadets at the academy chasing her, cause she had set off a stink bomb in their showers. Skye had laughed and laughed as she had explained that one. The second was if she really had been Natasha Rominoffs' SO. When she had answered yes, Skye's reaction face had been priceless. So much so that Melinda had laughed. A full on outright laugh. She wasn't sure if it was Skye or herself that was more startled at her laughter. But what it did was make Melinda realize that somehow, her student had wormed her way into her heart. And that revelation was terrifying to her. Because it was much easier to keep everyone at a distance. Safer and easier. But now that barrier between Skye and herself no longer existed. And there was no going back.

No, there was no going back for any of them. They needed to forge ahead. To leave the past behind. To move forward and rebuild, not just shield, but themselves. To help rebuild relationships and trust.

The routine they all established helped everyone move forward. It gave Melinda and Skye purpose. It gave them all stability and a sense of hope. It did the same for Jemma. She fell into a routine as well. Melinda and Skye making sure she ate and slept. They not only kept Fitz company but Jemma as well. Skye would drag the board games along and Melinda and Jemma would play them with her. Melinda taught both girls how to play poker. Coulson would check on everyone when he could but he was busy trying to find agents to recruit. For nine days everyone benefitted from the routines they set up.

On the ninth day, their world once again changed. Fitz woke up from his coma. A new chapter in all their lives was about to begin.


	4. Chapter 4

_Sorry for the longer than normal wait. Thanks for all the reviews, favors and follows. I love reading reviews. I promise we will get to more action soon but needed to lay all the groundwork first._

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It was painful. Watching Fitz struggle with everything. Skye was watching through the window in the door of his room as the doctor and therapist were with Fitz. It had been almost a week since he had woken up. At first he could not do anything. Now he was sitting up and able to eat. They were told he would recover some but it would take awhile and the doctors were not sure if he would ever be the same. The prognosis was guarded at best. Skye had gone in to visit yesterday and she was able to hold it together while there, but had escaped to her room and sobbed on her bed. Later, at weapons training, if May noticed her red eyes and swollen face she didn't say anything.

Skye's days were the same. She woke up at 4:50 and made her way to the gym where May would already be waiting. They would do Tai Chi and then run. They would then eat breakfast together and then May would go off to her work while Skye studied. They would meet together again for lunch and then have weapons training. The later afternoons, Skye would study, visit Fitz, or spend time with Simmons. She hardly saw Coulson anymore. May had introduced her to weight training as well and they would do that before dinner. Sometimes May would eat dinner with her and Simmons but most of the time she would grab a plate and head to her office to work while she ate.

Sometimes May would give her work to do on her computer, to hack this or that, or look up info. She would do that in between studying or at night. Slowly more and more support staff and comms and science tech agents came to the base. Since they were there, Skye had less menial work to do, as May would give it to the comms techs. Jemma worked in the lab with the new staff for a few hours each day but spent the majority of her time with Fitz. It seemed like May was always doing something, working. leading the other agents or training Skye. Skye wasn't even sure if she slept more than a few hours each night. May had picked up all the extra duties that Coulson was no longer there to do daily.

Skye had gotten really good at hearing everything. But Melinda May was still able to sneak up on her. She jumped as May touched her shoulder.

May smirked at her. "How is he doing?"

Skye shrugged. "He's sitting up. Still can't say many words. He threw the cup across the room a few minutes ago." May's hand had remained on Skye's shoulder. She squeezed it a little.

"He'll get there. We have to be patient."

Skye turned to look at her mentor. "Do you really think so or are you just being comforting."

Melinda raised an eyebrow at her. "Skye. Give him time. He may never be completely the same again but he will get better. Don't give up."

Skye sighed. It must be pretty bad when Melinda May is giving her pep talks. "Okay. It's just...hard to see him like that...hard to believe...he may never be able ...Oh god I hate Ward. Fitz kept hoping he would have a reason, be brainwashed or something. Look what he did to him May?" She had started shaking and her eyes filled with tears. "Look what he did to us."

Melinda moved her hand to Skye's back a rubbed it a few times. "I know. I hate him to."

"At least you got to kick his ass. To feel that. To...just... oh ..." Skye went to slam her hand into the wall, but May grabbed it first. She spun Skye around to look at her.

"And hurting yourself is not going to help him, " she motioned to the door, "or help you. You need to control your emotions Skye so you can use them when needed. Right now slamming things is not the answer."

Skye was mad. She side stepped May and tried to wiggle out of her grasp. May held her tighter. "Stop it Skye. That's an order."

Skye started laughing. "An order?" She was laughing with tears trailing down her cheeks. One blip away from hysterics. Melinda released her and pushed her away. "You don't even care about him or us. It's all just your job. Your orders are all that matters. Your a worse robot then Ward pretended to be."

Melinda stared back at Skye. She masked her emotions. "The gym. Now." Melinda turned and stomped off to the gym.

Skye watched her leave. What the hell she thought. She has no right. Skye wiped at her eyes and followed May. She entered the gym and saw May warming up on the mat. Skye walked in and stood in front of her. She raised her arms in a what the hell gesture to her SO.

"Warm up Skye. You're angry. Let's see how you can use that."

Skye stared daggers at May for a few seconds while May ignored her. Finally she threw her hands in the air and then stepped onto the mat. "I'm fine. Don't need to warm up."

A moment later she was laying on her back staring at her SO's face leaning over her. "You will warm up Skye and you will stop this nonsense or I will be done with you."

May pulled away as Skye jumped up. "Fine." Skye yelled. "Be done with me. It's not like you care anyway. No one ever does. One less thing for the great Melinda May to worry about. One more home I get thrown out of. One more person to leave."

May stopped her warm up and stood perfectly still. She turned to face Skye. She wrung her hands in front of her. "I shouldn't have said that. I promise Skye I won't abandon you. I won't leave."

Skye stared at her SO. For the first time in forever, May showed real emotion. Skye saw it flicker from anger to sadness to something akin to compassion, and then hurt. Skye swallowed hard. Her tears had continued to fall. Her SO took a step toward her. May held her gaze.

"This will always be your home Skye. But you need to take a breathe. That anger that has been building in you. You need to let it out. Now warm up. Let's see if you can mine that anger and take me down."

Skye blinked rapidly. She wiped her eyes still staring at May. She slowly started stretching, her muscle memory taking her through her warm ups without Skye thinking about it. This woman standing next to her was all Skye aspired to be. She probably respected no one the way she did Agent Melinda May. That she had just basically told her off and the woman was still standing there spoke volumes to Skye. The small glimpse into who Melinda May really was that she just allowed Skye to see was why Skye's brain was in full motion. Oh, in the back of her mind she knew May cared for them, for her to a degree. She had seen the tape of May pummeling Quinn on her behalf. After all they were teammates, colleagues, co workers that shared a small space. May would have never agreed to be her SO if she didn't see potential there. If she didn't feel something for Skye.

Once in a while over the last few weeks since all shit had hit the fan, May had only let her guard down a few times. And most of the time it was a small emotional flicker here and there. Laughing at Skye's clumsiness. Smiling at both their horrible kitchen skills. An occasional nod, and flash of a smile when Skye did something well in training. But May had not let that mask slip too far, and never to show how she, herself was feeling. never to show her emotional vulnerability. But the hurt that Skye had read on May's face while she chewed her out was something Skye had never seen before. It was a hurt that Skye could identify with. One of caring too deeply and then being shut down. Skye stopped her warm up and looked at her hero.

"I'm sorry May. I shouldn't have lashed out. I am just so angry all the time. I feel so useless. Like I should be doing more and not knowing what that is."

Skye hung her head as she felt more tears threatening to fall. She continued. "Especially yelling at you. All you've done for me. For all of us. You don't get enough sleep and I know sometimes you get so busy you don't eat. But you make sure me and Jemma do." She looked back up as the tears ran down her cheeks." I know you feel too." She took her sleeve and wiped at her eyes. "You're just stronger. Your not weak like this," she sniffled, "Like I am."

May shortened the distance between them. Standing in front of Skye she studied the young woman. Skye was unnerved. Was she going to quit training her? Was she fed up with her and her weaknesses? Finally Melinda spoke. It was barely above a whisper.

"You are one of the strongest people I know Skye."

Skye looked at her incredulously. She started shaking her head. May surprised her by reaching up and gently holding her chin. "Feeling is not a weakness Skye. Letting feelings cloud your judgment, dictate your behavior to hate or seek revenge, or hurt people is a weakness. Feelings like love and compassion are strengths Skye. They allow us to channel our emotions in a healthy way to protect people and to do good. Melinda smiled. "You are one of the most compassionate persons that I know. You are strong. You always give people the benefit of doubt, a second chance, and you are the least judgmental person I've ever met." Skye stared at her wide-eyed. She was speechless. Melinda May had never talked so much at once to her before. As though sensing what Skye was thinking. May grinned.

"When I have something to say Skye, I say it. Especially to those I care the most about. Now, let's channel your anger into something positive. Righteous anger can take down anyone."

Skye nodded. She backed up as May did the same. She swiped her eyes with her sleeve one last time and sniffled back the rest of her tears. She circled around as May let her get set, and get hold of herself. She kept her eyes on May waiting for her to strike. After a few moments she realized May was waiting for her, giving her all the time she needed. She felt her throat grow tight. She swallowed hard and looked for an opportunity.

Skye waited another few heart beats and then went for her move. She faked a punch to her right and threw her left leg out to sweep May's legs out from under her. Instead of May landing on the ground, Skye found herself staring back up into her SO's face once again.

"Good idea Skye but you were too slow on your duck and sweep. Do it again." She reached her hand down to pull Skye up.

They sparred for another 30 minutes. Skye never took down May but it was also harder for May to take her down. She only landed on the mats 3 mores times. When May noticed her struggle to get up at the last take down, she offered Skye a water bottle and sat down on the mats. Skye sat down next to her, greedily swallowing the water.

"Ask me anything Skye."

Skye pulled the water bottle from her lips and stared wide-eyed at May. She had only done this twice before and Skye had loved hearing her answers. But she didn't think she deserved this award this time. " Why? I didn't do anything fantastic. In fact I was being kind of a brat to you."

May shot her eyebrows up at her. "You persevered Skye. You pushed through the pain and did your best. Sometimes emotional pain is harder than physical pain. You earned it."

Skye thought about it. What did she want to know about her SO. So far she heard about how May and Coulson met at the academy, and that May was The Black Widow's SO for awhile. She thought for a bit and then smiled. Got it. "Why did you become an Agent of Shield?"

Melinda looked at her. She sighed. She had promised herself she would be honest with Skye when she gave her this chance. "The short version is that I simply wanted to piss off my mother. At least at first."

Skye's eyes and mouth shot open. "What?" She finally spurted out. She looked at her SO begging for more.

"She was in the CIA. So I figured I would join Shield. She still thinks it was the worst decision I ever made. She blames Coulson."

"What? But you said you met AC at the academy?"

"Yep. I did. But the first few months there were hard. I complained several times to my mother I was going to quit. I hated the rules, and the way the upper class treated first years. I hated most of the classes except hand to hand, weapons, and tech classes. The instructors were mostly men at the time, all white men and well, me being a little Chinese woman with an authority complex...let's just say they didn't like me any more than I liked any of them."

Skye looked at May in wonder. This was a side of her she had never imagined.

Melinda laughed at her look. "That was pretty long ago Skye. Diversity back at the academy was pretty non existent. I used to laugh about being the token Chinese woman. Only a few years later did it get better. But for me it seemed I was always fighting someone about something. Till I ran into Phil. The dork kept seeking me out after that encounter, even for sparring, getting his ass kicked regularly, till I finally let him take me out."

Skye was eating this up. She grinned at Melinda. "You dated."

Melinda shook her head. "Not really. We both knew the rules about fraternizing and neither of us was looking for or had time to date. What did happen is we became best friends. We hung out. He helped me to get through history and math and I taught him how to kick people's asses. We also made a great team when it came to practical jokes." Melinda smiled. "We made the most unlikely duo they ever saw. The clean cut, warm, smart, geeky, compliant good little soldier and the badass, fighting, stern, chip on her shoulder little Chinese woman."

Skye laughed loudly. She leaned into May and her eyes were shining and she kept laughing. It was their old Skye back and Melinda was so glad to hear that sound.

"So that's why I stayed at Shield and why my mother hates Phil."

"So where did AC take you on your date? Or non date or whatever it was?"

May looked at her and grinned. "I said one question Skye."

Skye's face fell. "Awe, but that's ..."

Melinda interrupted her. "Dinner time. I'm gonna grab a shower, you should do the same. Meet for dinner after." Melinda got up and walked out of the gym. Skye stared after her. She smiled. It may not have been much to anyone else but for Skye it was everything. She felt warm and content knowing that Melinda May cared about her.

Dinner wasn't much. Melinda had thrown together a salad, and had boiled some spaghetti. Skye heated canned sauce in the microwave so they had spaghetti and salad. Skye chewed wistfully wishing AC would come back and cook dinner again. Melinda ate quickly and silently. She put her dishes in the sink, and went off to do some work in her office. Skye did the dishes and then wondered into the common room. She flipped on the TV and slumped to the sofa. Flipping the remote she gave up, turning it off, not finding anything that held her interest.

The alarm sounded and she jumped practically falling on the floor. The agents who stayed on base started running for the hanger bay which was protocol in a breach. The shrill sound of the alarm unnerved her. She walked quickly down the corridor to get to the armory for a gun. Having a gun made her feel a bit safer as she continued to the hanger bay.

"Stand down everyone." May's voice came over the comms. "Alarm was set off accidently. Protocol 8289. Skye breathed a sign of relief. 8289 was the signal of all clear. She proceeded to the doors wanting to see which agent had set off the alarm and particularly wanted to see May kick their ass. She didn't need this shit. Her nerves, and everyone else's were strung tight enough.

What greeted her in the corridor was Melinda May holding a very scared scruffy looking man by the throat as two other strangers she had never seen before surrounded May. Skye drew her weapon. "Hands up." They two people, a man and woman looked at her. Skye walked closer to them. They just looked at her. She shot off a warning shot which had the woman shooting her hands up and waving them and the man diving to the floor.

"Stand down Skye. Their friendlies." Skye glanced at May.

"Then why are you killing one?"

"Yah that's a fair question." The man on the ground said. The woman glared at him.

"Because this moron set off the alarm and then talked back to me."

Skye put her gun in her holster. She looked at the unfortunate man still in May's grasp. "Death wish? " she smirked at him.

May's lips twitched upward as she let go of the man pushing him from her. He nearly lost his balance. He rubbed his throat. "Bloody hell."

"Skye meet the new recruits. Hartley, Idaho and..."

"Hunter." the woman said. "Lance Hunter the bloody idiot."

Idaho nodded agreeing with Hartley.

"Sorry about that May. It won't happen again. Will it Hunter?" Hartley gave him death glare.

"Yah I mean no."

"You need me here May?"

Melinda shook her head. "No just tell Koenig we need two rooms. They can share a room with bunks. Hartley gets her own."

"Roger that." She nodded at May and turned to go.

"Thanks Skye. For having my back."

Skye turned back and gave her a small smile. She continued back to the armory.

Later that night as Skye sat in her room she couldn't sleep. She got up and wondered out into the corridors making her way to the kitchen. She was in front of the fridge about to open the door, when a voice called to her. "Skye you should be sleeping." She startled and jumped back crashing into the counter and knocking down a couple of dishes with a resounding clatter.

"Shit. Skye are you hurt?' Melinda rounded the corner of the counter quickly standing in front of her student. Skye was clutching her hand to her chest and breathing rapidly but other wise seemed unhurt. Melinda reached behind her to snap the light on. Skye's shocked look was gradually turning into one of relief as she looked at May.

"What the hell May." Skye was regaining color back in her face. Melinda smirked not quite looking sorry.

"Um sorry? I didn't mean to scare you."

"You didn't mean to... Geez May. It's freaking 2 in the morning and your sitting in the dark not making a sound and you saw me and didn't mean to scare me. So was it a training exercise? Like you did when you shot over my head when I couldn't load my gun fast enough? Or when you nearly decapitated me when I snuck up on you in the armory?"

Melinda looked indignant. "I did not nearly decapitate you Skye."

"That's it? That's all you're gonna say?"

"Hey I said I was sorry."

"But you're laughing. At me."

"Well Skye it was funny."

"No May it was definitely not funny. I almost had a heart attack. And look. Broken dishes."

Melinda looked down at Skye' feet. There were 2 plates one still intake and the other broken in half. She reached down and took them and tossed them in the garbage. Skye was looking at her.

"Okay look. If I make you hot chocolate will you stop giving me the evil eye."

Skye's eyebrows shot up. "Depends."

"On?'

"Whether it's good or not."

"My mother's recipe. Come on. You can help. She opened the fridge and started heating milk on the stove. She handed Skye the spoon. "Stir." Melinda then got out the rest of the ingredients. It took 15 minutes but after Skye took her first sip she was convinced it was worth it.

"Mhmmmmm..." She closed her eyes and let the sweet liquid go down her throat. "This is amazing."

Melinda gave her a little smile. "My mother always made it from scratch when I needed a little pick me up. She would talk words of wisdom while we shared the drink."

Skye tried to imagine what May's mother looked like. In her mind she pictured a woman who looked like May only older. Skye let her mind drift as she wondered what it would have been like to have a mother who made her hot chocolate from scratch when she had a bad day. A mother who would talk to her and tell her everything would be okay. A mother like May. Whoa! Where did that come from. Skye glanced at May who was sipping her drink. She thought back to when she first arrived on the bus. When Coulson told her an agent from Shield had dropped her at the orphanage. She had hacked into a bunch of women agents to see if there was a clue that one of them could have been her mother. May was one of them. She discounted her almost immediately though, but that feeling of disappointment that May was definitely not her mother was hitting her again. She was so lost in her thoughts she did not hear May talking to her.

"Hey. Earth to Skye." She looked over at May.

"Huh?"

"Did you see what I did there?" Skye shook her head and finally got it.

"Ugh. May that was terrible."

Melinda winked at her and laughed. "Ha. You're just mad I made a punny at your expense."

Skye rolled her eyes.

"Be careful, they might stay that way. Hard to spar with eyes looking upward. Although you would be good for anyone 8 feet tall."

"Oh my god. Stop. You don't make jokes May. Especially bad dad jokes."

"Who do you think taught Coulson all he knows?"

Skye stared at her dumbfounded. "May!'

Melinda laughed a full bodied laugh. The kind Skye had never heard from her before. In fact, she doubled over in the chair laughing as her body shook."

Skye's face exploded into a grin. Soon she was laughing just as loud with Melinda. She struck it all up to fatigue. For both of them.

"I wish Coulson were here to see this."

Melinda stopped laughing and sighed. "Me too."

The change to seriousness from May was not lost on Skye. "He's okay, isn't he?"

Melinda nodded. "Yes, he's fine. He's just very busy trying to recruit agents and set up Shield again. It's not an easy job. He is supposed to check in tomorrow."

Skye slumped in her chair. "Doesn't matter. I never get to see him anyway."

"I'll try to get him to visit with everyone Skye. If he has time."

Skye gave her a weak smile. "I'm gonna try to get a few hour sleep. My SO gets mad when I fall asleep during Tai Chi." She got up and dropped her mug in the sink, turning to make her way back to her room.

"Goodnight May.

"Make it six tomorrow Skye. And get right to bed. Goodnight."

"Thanks May." They both knew she was not just referring to the extra hour of sleep."

"Anytime Skye." She nodded to her.

A few minutes later Skye pulled her blankets around her and closing her eyes. She fell asleep dreaming of a house with a white picket fence and a woman holding a baby girl rocking on the porch swing waiting for her husband to get home. The woman looked an awful lot like Melinda May.


	5. Chapter 5

_Sorry for the delay. Time is hard to come by with all the holiday and family stuff. Thanks to everyone who reads this story. Thanks for the reviews which I love reading and the follows and favors. This story is semi canon compliant but will stray in how I portray some of the relationships between characters. It is what I would like to see. This whole story takes place between the first and second seasons of AOS._

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Skye was hurrying down the corridor. She had an armful of laundry and was almost late for weapons training. She turned the corner and collided with a man sprinting at her. The clothing flew everywhere and Skye actually was knocked down as the man fell on top of her.

"Bloody hell. Watch where you're going. Geez." Hunter picked himself up and was about to walk away when his feet were knocked out from under him and he landed back on his ass.

"Asshole. You watch where you are going dumbass." Skye was pissed. Her clean clothes were scattered in the hall and this idiot was blaming her for him running into her. She stood over him looking at him furiously. "You are such a fucking loser."

Hunter glared back at the very pissed off young woman.

She continued to ream him out. "What the hell are you running for and why the hell weren't you watching where you were going?" She turned and knelt down and started picking up her clothing not even waiting for an answer.

"Hey you ran into me. With that stuff piled in your arms you couldn't see and you turned the corner into me." Hunter was indignant now. He didn't know why he was defending himself but he was tired of the bullshit around this place and she stepped out from nowhere. It certainly wasn't his fault. He wasn't gonna take a dressing down from this young kid either. Agent or not. He pulled himself back up and stared at the girl. She slowly stood up, her clothing forgotten as she confronted the stupid mercenary.

"Let's make one thing clear here, asswipe. You clearly are at fault. You ran me over and fell on me you fucking idiot. You were fucking running. Now you can redo my clothes since this was your fault. Pick up my stuff now! The laundry's that way!" She pointed the way she had come and crossed her arms glaring daggers at him. A few people had heard the commotion and were gathering at the end of the corridor to watch the interchange. Hunter noticed but Skye did not.

"Make me."

Skye did not hesitate. She was pissed. There had been new agents coming on base constantly and they seemed to go out of their way to either annoy her or constantly be in her space. Now this damn mercenary, hell not even an agent, and what was he doing here again, was calling her out. She uncrossed her arms and took a swing. He ducked. She lashed out at him again, and missed again as he just got out of the way. She did not see it coming. He got her in the face. Her nose, and as she went down she could feel the blood dripping. She jumped back up and punched him in the stomach and then took his feet out from under him again. He stared up at her as she made a move to attack again, and he rolled over to avoid her, got up and kicked her stomach. Skye went down and as he moved to punch her again, he found himself instead pinned to the wall with a hand on his throat and a very angry Melinda May in his face.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" She hissed at him. She loosened her hold so he could talk.

"She started it. Damn kid thinks she can order me around and treat me like shit."

"You suck." That came from Skye. She had pulled herself up although she still clutched her stomach and had blood flowing from her nose. "Your fault and why the hell are you here again?" Skye let loose a wave of curses that would rival any truck driver.

May let go of Hunter shoving him for good measure before turning to Skye. "What the hell happened Skye?" As she waited for an answer she noticed around 10 agents loitering about watching the exchange. She took a few steps toward them. "Clear out. Get to work." When they didn't move fast enough for her liking she added. "That's an order. Move it." They dispersed rather quickly after that.

"Skye?"

Skye was still shaking and realized her nose was still bleeding. She reached up to touch her face, and her breathe was uneven. She felt tears threatening to fall from her frustration and anger and did what she normally did when she felt vulnerable. She fled. She turned and bolted down the hall.

Melinda sighed. She turned back to Hunter and glared at him. "Two times I had to restrain you on this base. Now Hartley vouched you are one of her best, and we are short handed. So I'm going to let you stay. But if you ever," at this she grabbed him and shoved him back into the wall, "and I mean ever, fucking touch Skye again, or even look at her wrong, I will kill you." She let him go and gave him a death glare. "Pick this all up and put it in the common room on a nice and neat pile." Then she turned to walk off the same way Skye had gone.

Melinda found Skye in the bathroom by the laundry room. She was sitting on one of the toilets with the seat down holding paper towels to her nose. Melinda closed the door and leaned back against it, folding her arms as she looked over Skye.

Skye refused to acknowledge her. Melinda let a few minutes of silence pass, then she spoke up.

"Feel better?"

Skye bit her bottom lip still holding the towels up to her nose which was still bleeding. Maybe it was broke she thought. Still hurt although the stinging sensation was gone now. She didn't say anything back to Melinda.

Melinda sighed and frowned. She unfolded her arms and stepped toward Skye. Standing in front of her she spoke again. "Let me see."

Skye pulled the paper towels away and tilted her face upward. Melinda gently put her left hand on Skye's forehead and with her left gingerly felt around her nose and cheeks.

"Nothing broken. Here give me those." She took the bloodied paper towels from Skye and threw them in the trash. She wetted a few more and gently dabbed at Skye's nose and mouth wiping the blood away. She held the towels against her nose for a few more moments and the bleeding appeared to stop. Melinda threw away the rest of the paper towels.

"Stand up Skye. I saw where he kicked you." Skye did as she asked and Melinda checked her stomach area making sure she was okay. " Does it still hurt at all." Skye shook her head.

Melinda put her hand under Skye's chin and lifted her head to make eye contact. Skye shifted nervously.

"You want to tell me what happened?"

Skye shook her head and pulled out of Melinda's grasp. Melinda dropped her hands and she gazed at her student. Her scrutiny was making Skye uncomfortable. Skye attempted to walk around her SO. Melinda moved to block her and did not budge.

"What happened?" Melinda voiced again this time quieter making it more of a request than an order.

After a few awkward moments of silence, Skye looked up at her. "He...he...rrran into mm...me." She paused and collected herself and looked down at her feet. "I was just walking back to my room after doing my laundry and he came barreling around the corner at top speed, knocked me down and ended up falling on me and my clothes flew everywhere. Then he started blaming me, didn't even help me up and was just an asshole. So I hit him, or at least tried to."

Skye finally looked Melinda in the eye. "He's a jerk May and I can't stand all these...all the ...it's all different. They all just are there in the way, asking dumb questions, and always ...just...it's just...", she sighed and looked up trying to hold it together. "I just miss what we used to have. Us, the team. It's all...just...", she felt herself tearing up and squeezed her eyes shut. She blinked rapidly as she felt her throat tighten. "It's all different." She stopped talking and looked expectantly at May willing her to understand.

"Skye." Melinda did know what she meant. The last 5 weeks had brought many changes. New people arriving almost daily. Agents, support staff all former Shield wanting to stay with Shield. They had scientists, mechanics, security and other agents walking the base from 7am to 10pm. most living off the base in nearby communities or Washington DC. Staggered shifts which meant people floating in and out constantly, and much higher levels of necessary security. Those support personal who chose to live on the base consisted of only a few but did include Hartley and her mercenary friends and Mack the new mechanic. Melinda knew the adjustment was hard on Skye and Jemma , hell it was hard on her. They had spent months, almost an entire year together as a team just the six of them for the most part and yeah it was more impersonal here. That's why she had tried to be a little more open with both Skye and Jemma, mostly Skye because of being with her so much more. But this comfort stuff was not her territory. That was more Coulson but he was hardly ever around anymore, recruiting and flying off to who knows where almost daily.

"Skye we can't go back. We have to move forward. And these people are part of what we have now. Part of the team."

Skye swatted at her eyes with her sleeve. " Doesn't mean I have to like it. Or them. Especially that asshole." She tried to shut down her emotions like May would do.

"Yeah Hunter is an idiot. But he's really good at what he does. And right now we need someone like him, and agents like Hartley. Good ones not afraid to get their hands dirty."

"Still totally his fault."

Melinda smiled. Skye was holding back and not telling her everything about why she went postal on the mercenary but that was okay. Skye would hopefully talk when she was ready, if not to her than maybe to Jemma or even Fitz. The two had grown quite close in the last few weeks. Skye spent most of her free time with either Simons or Fitz, which wasn't a lot with her training and duties running the tech department.

Melinda decided to back off for the time being. "You'll find your clothes in the common room neatly folded. Anything needing to be redone give to me and I'll throw it in with mine later tonight. Oh and Hunter will stay far away from you from now on so you don't need to worry about him."

Skye raised her eyebrows. "What? Did you threaten to kill him?" Skye kidded her.

Melinda raised her eyebrows at her charge. "Yes, I did. I could have strangled him for daring to touch you, let alone hurt you."

Skye's eyes widened trying discern if she was kidding or not. Melinda turned her lips into a smirk as she turned to leave.

"Weapons Training Skye. Ten minutes."

Skye's mind was racing as she watched her SO leave the room. Her heart started beating faster as she pondered the thought that Melinda May threatened someone's life cause he hurt her. Again.

Skye went and grabbed her clothes and put them in her room, taking just a pair of jeans and shirt which were the worse from laying on the floor. She high tailed it to the armory area for weapons training, depositing her clothes on the table as May was prepping her training. Only a week ago Skye had graduated to firing real ammo at the targets and she was getting pretty good. She could load her weapon in the dark, and with bullets firing over her head thanks to May's insistence on every possible scenario training. May greeted her warmly which had Skye grinning, cause who would have thought only a few months ago that her stoic SO would enjoy training the insolent hacker. But that's not just who Skye was anymore, was it? She was actually becoming a real agent. Her thoughts shut down as she concentrated on the target, and on slowing her heart rate as she squeezed the trigger.

After training Skye had free time and decided to visit with Fitz. He had gotten much better the last few weeks progressing well, but he spent a lot of time in his room. He had moved into their hallway just a week ago after leaving the med area. He still did therapy but a lot of it was on his own. He really only talked to Skye and May anymore. He had started pushing Jemma away although she still tried to spend time with him. He was very self conscious of his stutter and inability to make his hands do what he wanted them to do. Skye would sometimes just watch movies or old shows on the computer with him or just talk about what she did that day. When he did venture to the labs or common room or kitchen he usually did it in the company of May or Skye.

She knocked on his door. "Hey Leo it's me. Can I come in?"

She heard a shuffle and then the door was swinging open. He gave her one of his rare small smiles, and motioned her to come in.

"Hey I'm free from May and idiot agents for awhile. How you doing today?"

He nodded. "I'mmmm...oookay."

"Good." Skye never pressed him. She let him give her as much information as he wanted. He loved her for that.

She plopped down on the chair in the room as he sat on his bed. "So guess which asshole ran into me and ended up in a fight with me today?"

He looked at her and raised his eyebrows. "Yoooooou okay?"

"Yeah. Now." She relayed the whole story, injecting a few choice names for Hunter is the mix, which Fitz laughed at. During her story, he got up and got two Cactus Coolers out of his mini fridge and handed her one. She smiled. Apparently, May was a softie with him too. Cause she knew who he got them from.

She concluded, "So anyway May threatened to kill him and everything's better now."

He laughed. "Of cccccoourse she dddid. You're like, like her um her her..."

"Student?" Fitz shook his head. She tried again. "Friend?'

His head moved from side to side more vigorously. "No, umm...doooo...daughter."

Skye laughed. She looked at him. He was dead serious. He tilted his head and grinned at her.

She frowned. "May's not, I mean, she's not...", she shook her head as if clearing cobwebs. "I mean I know she cares and all, but ..."

Geez. Did he really think that? Did anyone else? She bit her lip. "Not the worst thing I guess?"

He shook his head. "Nope."

She stood up and reached for his laptop. Then plopped on his bed and pushed back to the wall. He sat back next to her. She typed in a few things and looked at him.

"Monty Python?" He grinned and nodded his head.

Two hours later May knocked on the door.

"Come in." Skye answered.

May poked her head in the room. "You two, dinner. I ordered pizza."

They both jumped up and followed her out of the room into her office. Jemma was already there and so were 3 pizzas, soda and beer and Coulson.

Skye smiled. Apparently this was just going to be the old team. Phil greeted them both and they all dug in. Conversation was sparse as it was mostly Phil updating them all on his comings and goings, but it was still nice. It reminded Skye of the bus days when she had first joined. Before everything had gone to shit.

She was dreaming. It was a nice dream. She was at a fair with May and Phil. She was jumping up and down waiting in line to go on the ferris wheel. She was holding a bag of cotton candy that May kept sending Phil disapproving looks over. It was finally their turn to get on and...

"Skye. Come on wake up. Skye!" Someone was shaking her shoulder. She bolted upright. Her light was on in her room and her SO was standing by her bed.

"May. What the hell."

"Mission. Now. Get dressed and come to Coulson's office. You have 3 minutes." May practically ran out of the room.

Skye shook the last vestiges of sleep from her head as she threw the covers off and got out of bed. She glanced at the her clock. 3:00 am. She got dressed putting on her 'uniform' and boots and tied her hair into a lose ponytail. Her heart was racing. A real mission. As a real agent. She grinned and hightailed it to Coulson's office.

Hunter and Idaho were the last two there. Of course. Skye was standing next to May, while Hartley and Mack were leaning against the wall. Jemma and Fitz were sitting on the sofa. Trip was there also. Skye gave him a huge surprised smile. She hadn't known he was back. He had been gone for almost two weeks on some covert op in New York. He was sitting on the side of Coulson's desk.

As Hunter and Idaho traipsed in the room, Coulson started talking.

"So we all know what Garrett and Ward did to the Fridge." There were nods all around. "Well, Trip here got hold of some intel up in New York. Some of the prisoners are being held here." He pointed to the map, a place in Germany. Hydra has a base here. As far as we can tell they took some of the prisoners there. Intel says they are still working on super soldiers and experimenting with some of these people that were on the index. The base includes a plant that would be optimal for such things. We plan to blow it up after retrieving all the intel we can. We also need to see if any people are being held against their will and get them out. It's a threefold plan and we will have three teams. First team is retrieval of the intel via their computers. Skye that's you. May and Hartley are your support. Hunter, you and Idaho will be looking for friendlies to bust out. Trip, you and Mack and I are explosives. Jemma on the plane as med and tech support. All clear?

"Director?" May spoke up. "Mack and Trip can handle the explosives. Wouldn't it be better for you to remain on the plane to run the op?"

"Too big a place. I'll run it from the ground. Once we set everything the three of us will hightail to the plane and set it once everyone else is clear. No other options. We will have three tact agents with us as will Hunter and Idaho. May, you and Skye and Hartley are on your own."

May looked like she still did not approve but did not say anymore.

"Roger that." Hartley chimed in. Skye ran through every exercise May had given her to slow her heart rate. She thought for sure everyone could hear it. This was it. Her first real mission as a real trained agent. She glanced at May who gave her a nod.

"Gear up people. Wheels up in ten." May turned and headed out the door with Skye right behind her.


	6. Chapter 6

_Yeah I'm still here. Sorry for the delay in a new chapter. Got caught up in lots of life stuff. I will try to not take so long before getting the next chapter up. As always thank you so much for the reviews, and favorites and follows. I do read all reviews and love to get them. I simply do not have the time to respond to each one but I do really appreciate them. Now that AOS is back I have more incentive to write my favorite characters. A lot more May and Skye bonding is coming in the next chapters. Oh and a bit more Philinda too._

* * *

Germany. Skye looked out the window as the plane was landing. She was in the cockpit with May. To say that she was nervous was an understatement. Her first mission with May as her SO. Her first real mission being a trained agent. Able to shoot with accuracy and able to defend herself in hand to hand combat. The mission itself was fairly simple. They would be infiltrating a supposed abandoned building outside a small town in Germany. According to intel, the building was housing some of the prisoners who had escaped from the Fridge, where Hydra was also trying to perfect the super soldier formula. According to the information that Trip recovered, only a handful of the prisoners had survived. The mission involved capturing the prisoners, gathering the super soldier intel and anything else they could, and then shutting it down, which meant blowing it up.

After landing the plane in a field surrounded by woods, May and Skye made their way to the conference room. Simmons, Trip, Hunter, Idaho, Hartley, and Mack were already there. Everyone was already geared up. Skye stood next to May. Coulson came in the room after them. They went over the mission plan one more time and then headed to the hanger bay. Instead of Lola, there was a second SUV parked in her spot. May opened the hanger door. Coulson, Mack, Trip, Hunter and Idaho got in one SUV. Skye and Hartley followed May's lead and got in the other one.

On the drive everyone checked their comms. After that it was silent, but Skye started drumming her hands lightly on her legs. She was seated in the front next to May. May shot her a disapproving look. She clasped her hands together and tried to sit still. Her feet betrayed her as they started tapping the floor. May rolled her eyes. Skye shot her an apologetic look.

"So first mission huh."

Skye glanced back at Hartley. "Um not really. Um first one since Shield went ...um ...kaput."

Hartley nodded. "So, you were an agent before. Good to know."

Skye looked at May. "Well yeah sort of. I mean I got a badge literally days before everything went to shit. But I wasn't really trained well, and until May here started..."

"She's fine Izzy. She wouldn't be here if I didn't think so. You know that."

Hartley looked at May and back to Skye. She nodded. "Roger that."

Melinda gave a small encouraging smile to Skye.

Coulson came through on the comms. "Three minutes. All teams set?"

Mack spoke up. "Roger that."

"Affirmative." That was Hunter.

"Copy that, sir. " May spoke into her comm.

Melinda followed closely behind the SUV in front of her. A few moments later she pulled off the dark, little road they were on and hid the SUV amongst the even darker tree line.

All agents got out of the vehicles. They stationed themselves quietly in front of the first SUV waiting for all eyes to adjust to the dark. Coulson nodded at Melinda, who nodded to her team and then moved stealthily off thru the woods. Skye followed with Hartley behind her. The others moved off in their respective teams all making their way to the supposed abandoned warehouse.

Skye tried to follow in May's path. She figured that way she wouldn't trip or make any noise. Her heart started racing so she went through her training exercises to slow down her heart rate. She took a few deep breathes and focused on May in front of her trying to block out everything else in her mind. They came about ten feet from the fence. Melinda stopped them and took in the scene in front of her. Their intel said the fence was not wired but no one was taking any chances. Once May checked and saw it appeared to be clear she motioned for Skye and Hartley to go toward it as she brought up the rear, constantly checking everything. Skye knelt in front of the fence and reached to her backpack to pull out the small mechanism that would show if the fence was hot or not. It took her 10 seconds.

"All clear." She whispered.

May nodded. "Up and over." She whispered back. She went first scaling the 15 foot fence in seconds and landing on the other side. Hartley and Skye followed. They crouched low as May scouted out the area. She pointed and took off running. Skye followed as Hartley ran after checking behind as she ran. They made it to the building and all three crouched down again pushed into the wall. Hartley gave May a thumbs up. So far so good.

May pointed to a window to her left above her head. Hartley nodded. She moved under it and reached up and used a device to cut a hole in the window around the glass. She pulled the piece of glass away and set it next to her. The opening was just large enough for the three women to get through. Hartley went first, with Skye following and May last. They stood in the room they had entered and saw it was clear. May reached the door to the hallway. They slowly made their way down the hall toward the room the specs had said was housing the computers. All Skye needed to do was download the information. That was their job. In and out. But what had both May and Hartley worried was they had encountered no one. Not one guard or worker.

They stopped outside the room. May listened at the door and heard nothing. She slowly swung open the door and entered followed by Skye and Hartley, all three with guns raised. Nothing. May nodded at Skye, who proceeded to a computer and plugged into it. She started typing and soon the info was downloading on her flashdrive.

"How long?" May whispered the question to Skye.

Skye quickly typed a few more things, and then glanced at her SO. "Maybe 4 or 5 minutes. To get it all."

May nodded back. She looked to Hartley. "You stay by her. I'll watch the door."

"Copy that." Hartley moved next to Skye and leaned onto the desk behind her. She scoured over the room glancing at the younger woman from time to time. Skye was biting her lip in intense concentration as her hands flew over the keyboard.

It was barely a minute later when the entire place seemed to erupt in noise. Gun shots were heard along with banging and the sound of running.

The comms came to life. "Shit we have hostiles. Look out Hunter." That was Idaho.

May kept her eye on the door her gun raised, as Hartley moved to Skye's other side.

May spoke into the comm. "Status everyone. How many hostiles and where? Coulson are you okay." She turned to Skye. "Shut it down and take what you have. We are leaving."

Skye nodded and pulled her flashdrive out and stuck it in her pocket. She pulled her gun as she and Hartley ran to May's side.

Melinda opened the door. "Let's go!"

The three women stepped into the hall and ran down it. They turned the corner and saw a door to their right. May opened it and slammed it back shut as a shower of bullets came at them. They headed back the other way as the heard the bullets rip into the wall as they ran.

"There. Through there."

Skye got there first and threw open the door. Skye and May went through the door guns raised while Hartley covered them from behind.

May's comm crackled. "May your status?"

The women were slowly making their way through the room trying to catch their breathes.

May answered Coulson." Trying to find a way out of the building. Where are you?"

By the vehicles. We can see the others. They are heading to us. Do you need backup?"

"Negative. We will get there soon."

"Copy that. Everyone to the vehicles, stat. It is set to blow in 15."

Melinda opened the door at the other end of the room which took them into a long corridor.

They moved along the corridor quickly, not exactly running, checking carefully around. Melinda saw the corridor spilled into a huge room with a staircase and several balconies above. She stopped and knelt down against the wall by the opening. Skye slid in behind her while Hartley stood behind Skye checking the corridor. Melinda saw hydra agents and soldiers rushing around all the floors and the stairs and the room in front of her. She looked and saw a door just 12 meters away that led to the outside. They needed to make it there, get outside, and hightail it to their vehicles. And they had to do it in less than 12 minutes.

Melinda motioned for Hartley. She pointed to the door and then nodded to Hartley.

"Take her," she briefly glanced to Skye, " and go. I'll cause a distraction and then follow."

Skye shook her head vehemently. "We should go together."

Melinda glared back at Skye. "That's an order."

Skye stared back for a blip before looking away. "Copy that."

"Let's do this then." Hartley grinned.

Melinda stood up. She checked the room again, and then crouched down and made her way to the wall by the staircase. Hartley and Skye watched waiting to make their move. Melinda raised her gun and started firing. Hartley and Skye made their way along the wall to the door quietly. Then they made a run for the door and ran out. They heard gunfire and screaming, and Skye nearly stopped breathing. Hartley had hold of her and was tugging her along toward a tree line. Making it they both dove for cover as they heard shouting behind them. They waited there both trying to catch their breathes as they looked to see where the enemy was. A few soldiers and agents were fanning out looking for them.

"Good job." The whisper came from behind.

Skye nearly jumped out of her skin. She swung around into the smirking face of May. Hartley laughed.

"How the hell did you get out of there?" Skye's eyes were comically wide.

"Easy. I created the distraction and they started shooting each other while I slipped out a window. So now what? I'm open to suggestions. We have about 9 minutes to get to that fence, over it, and to the SUV. And there are about 20 people out there wanting to stop us."

Skye looked up thru the trees and sure enough the few had turned into a bunch, around 20.

"Another distraction?" She suggested.

"Won't work like that out here Skye." Hartley answered. "Open space." She paused then looked at Melinda. "Gonna have to fight through them. Surprise is on our side."

May nodded. Skye felt her heart start racing and her hand shake. Melinda put a calming hand on her shoulder. She gave her a clipped smile.

"We have this. Stay by me. Aim for the body and you have a good chance to hit something. I have about 8 shots left. You have a full clip. So does Hartley."

Skye calmed herself with her breathing and looked to May and nodded.

"Okay Skye and I will head toward the fence taking out as many as we can. Hartley will spring out on them from over there after a few seconds. Skye stay close."

They waited for Hartley to move into position. As they stepped out from the tree line and ran toward the fence, Skye heard the shouts of surprise and then the gunfire. She aimed and hit a leg and the agent fell. She saw 3 others fall beside him knowing May had hit her targets. Soon she heard shooting coming from Hartley as well, and more surprised shouts from Hydra. She shot another round off and watched as only 2 hit their target as May took down another 4. Hartley was doing her share as well and soon only 5 agents remained. May's clip had run out, but she had taken out one with her knife, a perfect throw to his chest. May ran up to them and between her fight skills and Hartley's knife, the remaining 4 were taken care of. The three women then ran to the fence. Hartley scaled it first. As soon as she was over, Skye jumped up and pulled herself up to propel herself over. More shouting stopped her as she looked to see three hydra agents running toward them with guns raised. Raised and aimed at her. She froze. May saw them and stepped toward them shouting with her gun raised. Skye screamed as she realized May had no more bullets but was still putting herself in harms way to protect her. She dropped to the ground pulling out her gun and fired at them blindly. She kept her finger on the trigger and kept firing. Only when her clip ran out did she stop. May lay on the ground looking at her.

"You okay?"

Skye nodded taking in the bullet ridden agents in front of her.

"Let's go. It's gonna go kaboom any minute. Hartley practically screamed. Skye reached her hand over to help May up. It was only after May was standing and turned toward her did Skye see the blood running down May's arm and shirt.

"May! Oh my god! You're shot!

May shook her off, grabbing her arm with her good one. "Go. Up and over. I'm right behind you."

Skye stared at her in absolute panic.

"Skye. It's a flesh wound. Nothing. Go!"

"B...b...b..b..ut. You were shot."

May shoved Skye to the fence. "We need to go Skye. Move." She grabbed her again. More shouting came from the building which woke up Skye as she started scrambling back up the fence. She was about to go over when she saw May struggling to get up the fence with her hurt arm dangling useless. Skye moved back down closer to May and pulled her with her left arm. May used the leverage to help get to the top and they both dropped down to the other side. They started running to the SUV's when they heard the first explosions.

Running, they saw Hunter and Idaho with two strangers jumping in the first SUV as Mack peeled out and headed to the base. Coulson was yelling at them as the three women piled into the back of the second SUV with Trip in the drivers seat who slammed on the gas and hightailed it after Mack. They could all see the massive flame with smoke as the trucks shook from the explosions.

Once they were clear, Coulson turned to look at the three of them. Seeing the blood on Melinda's shirt and her pale face, had him in a panic.

"Simmons. May is injured. Be ready once we arrive which will be in about 5 minutes.'

He looked at Hartley who was applying pressure via her own jacket to the wound. She nodded at him and rolled her eyes. Ah good. That meant the wound was serious but not life threatening. But the blood loss was pretty bad. He glanced at Skye who was watching her SO with wide eyes and a most serious expression. What startled him however, was that Skye had her hand in May's good one, holding on tightly and it appeared May was letting her. Maybe even holding tightly back. He allowed himself a soft smile.

"We'll debrief after she gets that looked at."

"You know it's just a flesh wound right." May rolled her eyes at him.

Skye reached into her pocket with the hand that was not firmly grasping her SO's. She held the flashdrive up. "I got it all. Whatever was on their computers. Then I put in a code. Anything they sent out between the time this went in and the whole thing went kaput, I can trace."

His eyes flashed with pride. "That should come in handy." He took the flashdrive and looked at Melinda. She was looking at the hacker with pride as well and ... wait ...was that fondness on her face. He grinned. Yeah these two were definitely good for each other.

* * *

Skye was helping Melinda to the sofa on the plane. Jemma was trailing them with her med supplies. Trip was in the pilot seat and they were all on their way back to the Playground. Melinda sat down with Skye's help, and it was not lost on her that her student had yet to remove her hand and was gripping hers rather tightly as she sat down next to Melinda. Coulson hovered nearby watching. Jemma sat on the coffee table and began to gather her supplies.

"Agent May, you need to take your jacket off."

She nodded but as she tried to use her hand a certain hacker still had her own hand locked in hers.

"Skye. I need to ...um..." She looked at her hand.

Skye looked as well and finally let go, giving a small laugh. But she didn't get up. May was having trouble with the jacket so Skye reached over and very carefully helped May pull it off. Under her jacket, May had a tank top on that was covered in blood as was her shoulder. Jemma began cleaning off the blood so she could see the wound. Fortunately the bullet had passed clean through the other side. Jemma cleaned the wound more, stitched her up, and then packed the wound.

"I advise sleep and plenty of water. No action for at least a few days." Jemma dug in her med it and pulled out a bottle of pills. "These are for pain. If you need them." May took the bottle and nodded at Jemma.

Hartley walked by just then. "Hey May, you good?"

May waved her hand in dismissal. "Fine. It's nothing. I'll be good to go in a day."

Skye stared at her SO with widened eyes. "A day? You were shot May. You should ..."

Melinda got up and waved Skye off too. "I'm fine Skye. I told you, just a flesh wound. Anyone have a bottle of water?" She swayed a little.

Coulson moved then and steadied her. Jemma handed a water bottle to Sky. Coulson put his arm around Melinda and guided her to her bunk. Skye followed them.

Phil helped Melinda to her bed and then sat next to her. He rubbed her good shoulder and smiled. "Glad you're okay. Get some rest."

Melinda's lips turned slightly upward. Skye hovered in the room entrance and Melinda reached for the water. Skye handed it to her and started to leave.

"Um Skye. Stay. I might need a little help changing."

Skye turned back and stood in front of Melinsa. Melinda handed Skye her water. Skye set the water on the nightstand.

Phil rubbed Melinda's arm gently and then got up. "Looks like you're in good hands. I'm going to do a mission debrief. Hartley can give your teams'. Get some sleep and take those painkillers Melinda."

She rolled her eyes at him but also nodded. He left and slid the door shut on his way out.

"You want to get me a top from the second drawer Skye. And some sweatpants. They're in the bottom drawer."

After helping May change, Skye grabbed her blood stained clothing and put it in a bag May told her was under her bed. She then sat next to her. May tossed two tablets down with the water and sipped the rest slowly.

"I was worried."

"I know. But really it's fine. Bullet went through and nothing major was hit. It does hurt though."

"You should sleep."

"I will. The painkillers will kick in soon. Ten minutes. You did good Skye. We got the intel, freed two prisoners from Hydra control, and blew up a Hydra base. And the trojan horse you left might give us more leads."

"I panicked." Skye was frowning.

"No you froze. For a second Skye. Then you acted. You did good. Thanks."

"Thanks? You draw their attention to you knowing you had no bullets in your gun to fire. Saved me. You got us out of there. We'd been toast without you. I should be thanking you."

"Team effort Skye. I had your back. You had mine. Hartley too. We always protect our own. That's what Shield is." Melinda reached her hand over to place on Skye's. "You did good."

Skye flushed with pride. "Except you got shot."

Melinda smiled. "I am fine Skye. Now get out of here and let me sleep. I think the meds are working and I don't want to say anything under the influence I might regret."

Skye grinned. "Like how much Coulson was worried about you and the googly eyes he made at you."

May glared at Skye. "Go now."

"Or how he hovered around making sure you were okay before doing anything else?"

"Come on. Fess up. You and AC. You guys were a thing at some point? Right? I mean it's obvious to...ow...geez..."

Melinda used her good arm to smack Skye in the head with her pillow. "Go away Skye!"

Skye sat up rubbing her head. "Gee you're no fun."

"Go harass Hunter Skye."

Skye's face lit up. "Oooo...good idea. He's still a douche. Oh and if he hurts me, you'll kill him, right?"

"Right." Melinda had laid down and mumbled into her pillow.

Skye smiled as she opened the door. She glanced back at Melinda who appeared to be fast asleep. "Sweet dreams May." She whispered.

They landed at the Playground hours later. Hunter was still complaining about whoever had painted his fingernails with polish while he slept.


	7. Chapter 7

_I know it's been awhile since my last update. I am still working on all my stories. This story is becoming more Au as I deviate from the show's canon. I just miss the bus team and all that they had become to each other (minus Ward) and I miss the interactions between everyone. I also see a stronger, closer bond created between May and Skye then what is shown on the show. This chapter really gets into their relationship which is strictly platonic here. A mother/daughter relationship. This chapter has so many feelings, and fluff, and friendship. Thanks so much for reading. Next chapter hopefully within a few weeks._

* * *

Melinda woke up slowly, her head foggy. As her vision cleared Skye's face came into focus gazing down at her. Melinda sighed as everything that happened came back to her. The mission and being shot. She glanced at her shoulder which was throbbing. She remembered leaning on Skye and Phil as they had helped her off the plane and into her bunk at the playground. Skye had helped her into her bed in her room after Jemma had given her a shot, a more potent painkiller. Apparently the girl had not left. Melinda tried to sit up.

"Oh hey you should take it easy. Here let me help."

Skye reached out as Melinda grabbed her arms to pull herself up better. Skye sat on the side of the bed. She reached for a cup with a straw in it and offered it to her SO.

"It's water. Jemma said you should stay hydrated."

Melinda took the cup and sipped some of the water, which felt good on her scratchy throat. Then she handed it back to Skye.

"I could make you tea if you want. You need to eat soon too."

"Skye what time is it?"

"It's like 5am."

"I slept most of the night? What time did we get back to base?"

"Um I think like 9 last night. You went out pretty quick. Jemma gave you a shot."

"Hmmmm. How long have you been here Skye. In my room?"

"Oh I didn't ...I mean I just stayed. In case you needed something. You woke up a couple times then went back to sleep. Don't you remember?"

"No. I don't." Melinda looked at Skye suspiciously. "Did I say anything?"

Skye stayed silent. Melinda cringed inside.

"Skye what did I say?"

Skye looked thoughtful and then answered. "You mumbled mostly. Couldn't really understand much."

"What did I say Skye?"

Skye looked down at her hands. "Just mumbling May." She looked at her SO. "It was hard to understand."

"What did I say Skye?" Melinda was worried now. She was known to talk in her sleep at times during her worst nightmares. She really didn't want Skye hearing those things.

"You just called out sometimes, mostly names. For us. Like you were scared for us. I heard Phil, me, Jemma, and Leo. Mumbling and stuff. I would hold your hand and you would stop and go back to sleep."

Melinda looked at Skye intently. "What other stuff."

"I don't know May. Like about people dying and you'd cry out and scream. Like bad nightmares. I have them too."

Melinda focused on Skye who was squirming under her questioning. There was something she wasn't saying. Skye bit her bottom lip and turned to look at the door.

"Skye." Melinda took her hand and circled it around Skye's wrist. "Hey. What did I say. Did I mention Bahrain."

"No. Nothing. Not like that. It's just... I don't know. May you were crying, screaming for AC. For me. Telling us not to die."

Melinda tightened her grip on Skye's arm. "And?"

Skye grew noticeably nervous. "I don't remember May? You would seem to wake up but then fall back to sleep. You said stuff. I guess the drugs and pain and stuff brought out weird stuff."

Weird stuff. That was an odd choice of words. "What kind of weird stuff Skye?"

"It doesn't matter May. You were like half unconscious. I think I should get AC or maybe Jemma to check you over. I'll bring you some food." Skye tried to sit up but May pulled her back down with her good arm.

"Skye? Just tell me what I said. What did I do?"

Skye reached up to scratch her head and frowned. "I'm pretty sure you didn't want me to hear it and maybe I should have left but I didn't want to leave you alone and...and you acted weird like...I dunno...different...you needed...um...you...you just..."

"Skye for Pete's sake just spit it out."

Skye swallowed hard and then looked at May. At first she stuttered. "You, you...well you begged me not to...not to ... leave. Asked me to st...stay and gripped mmmm...my...my hand real tight. Told me you...you...you said, you said...you...you loved me and didn't want to see me get hurt."

Skye was picking up speed now and her words came tumbling out. "You grabbed me and hugged me. Told me you would be proud to have had me as your daughter, and I would make a great one. Then you said stuff about AC dying, and me almost dying and getting shot, and started crying and you pulled me into your arms and held me. Told me not to die and then told me that you couldn't kill AC and that you didn't mean to care about us but we snuck in when you weren't looking, and honestly May, I started crying too and I told you to stop almost dying protecting me and that I loved you and then we both cried ourselves to sleep and I was cuddled in your arms and then I woke up like a few minutes before you did and got up and it felt good wrapped in your arms and I know you didn't mean it cause of the drugs and pain and anyway I'm sorry and then it kind of was weird and then you didn't remember so I'm sorry and maybe I'll just go now."

Before Melinda could connect everything to her brain that she was hearing, Skye had pulled away and ran out the door. Melinda stared blankly after her and tried to remember. She willed herself to remember and suddenly a memory of holding Skye tightly to her popped in her head. Of Skye sobbing in her arms and Melinda crying and promises of taking care of the girl and of herself crying remembering her nightmare of Phil's funeral and remembering how angry he was when he found she was watching him for Fury. And her orders were to put him down, and no way would she ever hurt Phil or hurt Skye or her team. She continued to remember the nightmare that woke her up terrified. Phil and Skye pointing their guns at her and hating her and calling her a traitor. Then suddenly Ward was there in her dream, and he stepped in and killed Phil and Skye while she watched and was tied up and couldn't stop him. She remembered the nightmare and how she had been scared when she woke up, and she had grabbed Skye and held her tightly and both had cried.

The drug had made her go into a deep sleep and then she had the nightmares. She'd had them before usually of someone close to her dying and she unable to save them. Probably scared Skye half to death with her screaming and crying and rambling on about dying.

And then rambling on about how much she cared for them which was caused by the drug too. But Melinda knew it wasn't just the drug talking. She knew she loved both Skye and Phil. And that she would die protecting them. She had loved Phil since their academy days. Best friends. Partners. Maybe even more than that. And Skye had wormed her way into her heart months ago. But these last few since she had become her SO, Melinda had even more so come to care for the girl. Come to see as more than her student, more than just a fellow agent.

With a jolt of awareness, Melinda realized that how much she cared for Skye and felt a strong pull to her to protect her, to keep her safe but also to just be around her. Melinda dropped her head into her hand. She did see the whole team as a family, and she saw Skye as the daughter she never had nor ever would have. Melinda sighed. That was not good. Cause now everything was personal. And a specialist could not get personal. Should not care that much. She was now compromised because no matter what the mission, no matter what she had to do, she knew she would never let any harm come to Skye. Or to Phil. Or to Fitzsimmons. With growing clarity, Melinda realized these people were her family.

Melinda pulled the covers off her legs and swung them over the side of her bed. As she was getting up, there was a knock on her door. The door opened slowly and Phil peered in at her.

"Hey you okay. I passed Skye as she was running in the hall to her room and she seemed upset. Did you threaten her again."

Melinda gave him a dirty look. "Little help here."

"Oh." Phil let the door close behind him and stood next to Melinda. He offered her his arm which she took as he led her to her bathroom. She had moved to this room a few weeks ago after realizing it had a small bath in it, and had kicked Koenig out since he wasn't even on the base most of the time.

"Thanks. Hand me a new shirt and sweats will you."

Phil opened the drawers and got out the appropriate items handing them to her. She took them and then closed the bath door.

"To answer your idiotic question, no I did not threaten Skye." Her voice drifted out from the bathroom.

"Well that's good. She just cares about you Mel and wants to help. She feels responsible for you getting shot. I know she's probably hovering too much for you to like but her heart's in the right place."

"Do you think I don't know that Phil? Of course she feels guilty. We all feel guilty. It's what a good agent does."

"Ah sarcasm. You must be feeling better. How about I make you breakfast. You and Skye. You can meet me there at her room and apologize for whatever mean thing you said and offer her my tasty breakfast as part of the apology. The girl does like to eat. And we all know you suck in the kitchen."

Melinda slammed open the door. "Are you finished insulting my culinary skills Philip?"

He laughed. "Yep. You are not that great at apologizing either but I figure the food would go a long way to make up for that lack of skill set you have. What did you say to her anyway."

Melinda squirmed trying to put the new shirt on with her hurt arm and Phil reached over to help her pull the shirt over her sport bra. His hand lingered on her back.

"I told her I loved her and thought of her as my daughter."

Phil's mouth opened with no words coming out. He closed his mouth and then opened it again. His arms flapped as he tried to speak.

Melinda grinned. "Ha. I finally got you to shut up."

Phil finally made a sound. "Yoooooooooouuuuuuu..." It sound like a sick owl. He shut his mouth and tried again. " Um you...you..."

"I had nightmares Phil. Screamed and woke up Skye. Apparently strong pain medicine is good for telling secrets. I apparently went all emotional and maternal on Skye and then didn't remember. Which probably disappointed her come to think of it. Then she felt embarrassed and ran away."

Phil blinked rapidly at her. "So you are saying you care..."

"Oh stuff it Phil. I see you looking at me. Your little smiles. You knew Skye would bring that out in me. Apparently I also hugged her. And cried."

Melinda sat on her bed. Phil sat down next to her.

"You told her much more then you were ready to tell her." Phil knew how guarded Melinda was. How careful she was with words. He knew without a doubt how much she cared for all of them. But she showed it, she did not say it. In Melinda's eyes saying it made her vulnerable. Made her weak. Made it so much more real.

Melinda sighed. "Then I didn't remember when I woke up. At least not right away."

"Well she understands that part Mel. I'm sure if you talk to her..."

"I don't know if I can do that Phil." Melinda's voice was barely a whisper. "It will change everything. If I let her think it was just the drug and getting shot and ..."

"You've always been brutally honest with her Mel. She expects it. Relishes it actually."

"I know."

They sat in silence for a while.

After a few moments Melinda looked at Phil. "You know when I first came on this team, picked it actually, when I saw everyone and then you let Skye join, all I wanted to do was run back to my desk and hide in administration again."

Phil raised his eyebrows at her. "Yeah I knew that."

"But you don't know why Phil."

"Cause you were afraid after Bahrain. Afraid to make the tough call. Knowing now what Fury asked you do to, I know it wasn't easy. Watching me to make sure his little experiment worked. Having to return to combat when you didn't want to."

"Well yeah that too. Skye was me Phil. A younger, lighter, prankster, freer me. She reminded me of what I lost. Of who I lost."

"You pushed her away at first because of that. She thought you were amazing, hell her hero even and every time she seemed to push in to get closer to you, to care for you, you pushed her back away. She scared you."

This revelation did not surprise Melinda. She nodded.

"Skye started coming in the cockpit and just sitting there. At first I tolerated it because, well, she earned it. Then I started looking forward to it."

"Yeah we have all heard the singing Mel." Phil chuckled. "How you get her to listen to your oldies is a mystery though."

"After a time of silence and oldies she started talking. Mostly rambling. I barely said anything back. But it was comforting. Skye sensed this. So she'd ramble on about things and not expecting me to respond was normal."

"You both had boundaries."

Melinda nodded.

"They are gone."

Melinda nodded again. "They've been chipping away since I agreed to be her SO."

"But now they are knocked down and trampled on. And that scares you more than twenty Hydra agents between you and freedom. "Phil took her hand in between his. "You should be having this conversation with her."

Melinda let out an exasperated sigh. "I'm not sure I'm ready for that."

"Then give her what you are ready for. She'll take it. She thinks you hung the moon Mel."

"She shouldn't."

"Hey." Phil pulled her into his side. "Stop beating yourself up. You need to let the girl go Melinda."

Melinda closed her eyes and sighed. Didn't it seem to always come back to that. She changed the subject. "You better get started on that breakfast. I'll head to Skye's room in a few minutes."

Phil kissed her temple and got up. "Twenty minutes. You better be there."

Melinda watched as he left her room. She slumped resting her head on her good arm, sitting quietly with memories dancing around her brain. Memories of a younger self laughing and carefree mixing with memories of a young woman whose eyes held so much hope.

* * *

Melinda leaned against Skye's door, catching her breath as pain shot thru her shoulder. She probably should have stopped at the lab for more painkillers but she wanted clarity for this conversation. She knocked lightly on the door. Skye didn't answer but Melinda heard some shuffling from the room.

"Hey Skye. Can I come in."

A bang and more shuffling. "Um yeah, hang on a sec." More banging and some hushed cursing and then the door popped open. Skye stood there with a smile. But Melinda also noticed her red eyes. "What's up May?"

So she was going to cope with her emotions by burying them. Putting on a happy face. Not so different then. She pretended everything was fine by smiling while Melinda did the same by showing nothing.

"We need to talk." Melinda walked into the room and sat on Skye's bed. "Phil's bringing breakfast in a few minutes."

If Skye was at all surprised, she didn't show it. She closed the door and then sat down next to Melinda.

"So what's up. New mission?"

"No."

"Yeah well I have work to do. I need to trace some things and I have a couple leads on the writings. So if it's nothing important..." Skye started to rise.

"Sit." Melinda cleared her throat. "It wasn't the drug talking Skye. Least not all of it. Of course it loosened my inhibitions."

At that Skye sank back done on the bed and raised her eyebrows.

Melinda continued. "Made me sleep soundly and then it was hard to wake up from the nightmare. I sleep talk when I have nightmares Skye."

"Yeah I get it. It wasn't real. You'd have never talked like that normal. It's good."

"No Skye it's not. That's not what I... I mean I said some stuff that I normally would not say. About you and Phil and ... I meant it I just didn't mean for you to ..."

"It's okay May."

"No Skye it's not. I remembered what I said to you. Some of it's a bit hazy. And I remembered what I did. Well mostly remembered. Some things are still a bit blurry. But I ...I ...want you to ...know... I mean I need you to understand ... um pain killers and me we kind of, I...um...react to them. I mean I don't..."

"Look May. It's cool. You get a little touchy feely on drugs. Open up and say stuff you don't mean. I get it."

Melinda shook her head. Why was this so damn hard. Why couldn't she let this younger women know how much she meant to her. How much Skye had helped heal her. She hesitated for a few seconds and then took a deep breathe. "I meant what I said Skye. All of it. Drug or not."

Skye turned to look at her SO. Her eyes widened and she looked confused. Melinda reached her good arm over and grasped Skye's hand. "The drug in my system broke down my barriers. A truth serum so to speak. It allowed me to say what I feel without a filter. Allowed me to open up."

Melinda paused, and collected her thoughts. "I don't do this well Skye. Talk about this. About feelings. I never really did. Even before...um, well before. Ph...um Coulson he could sometimes make me talk. I felt comfortable. But I was always quiet. Always controlled. But I was different. I was ...I was..."

"Warm."

Melinda's lips turned upward. She looked her student in the eye and nodded.

"You still are." Skye looked at her feet. "Always were. Even when I ...when I was a brat to you, I knew it. You just show it differently is all. Like threatening to kill Hunter for me." Skye looked back at Melinda. She gave a small laugh. "Beating the crap out of Quinn. Being my SO. Training me so I can defend myself. Yelling out so the soldiers shot you instead of me. I've always known you've cared Melinda."

Skye waited for Melinda to say something but when she didn't she spoke again. "You also give good hugs."

Melinda smirked at her. "Just so you don't expect them daily. Or even weekly. Hell, I think my quota's done for the year."

Skye looked at Melinda seeing the mirth in her eyes. She leaned her head onto Melinda's shoulder. "Okay no hugs around other people."

"That's not what I said."

"That's what I heard."

Melinda reached her arm across Skye and pulled her closer. Skye grinned. It was at that moment that the door opened and Phil pushed a cart filled with food into the room. He stopped suddenly as he saw them. He smiled as he saw Melinda looking just a little uncomfortable with her arm around Skye. Skye by contrast was beaming.

"I made omlets!"

"Yay omlets." Skye snuggled in closer to Melinda.

* * *

It was much later in the day when Skye got bored and starting roaming the base. She had been looking up info for Coulson and working on those strange writings he had given her, but after a hours of doing that she needed to talk to someone. Melinda had worked a few hours on paperwork in Phil's office but had grown tired and had gone to her room, presumably to sleep. Skye ended up in the Lab bothering Jemma.

"Skye!" Jemma batted at Skye's hands as she got to close to the specimens Jemma was examining. "You need to stay back." She frowned at her friend.

"Oh come on Jems. I was just looking. I wasn't gonna touch it."

"Don't you have work to do? Or training?"

"Nope. Finished work, at least for today. Staring at the screen so long made my head hurt. And no training, May's hurt so..."

"Well can't you train with someone else? Or find something...," Jemma batted at Skye again, "you need to back away form that Skye...find something else to do? Someone else to bother? Skye you are in the..."

"Oh come on Jemma. You're mean. Can't I help? I could take..." Skye went to pick up a glass tube and it slipped from her hand sending a trail of smoke across the broken pieces on the counter. "Oops."

"Skye! Oh for goodness sake." Jemma pushed Skye away. "You're lucky that was not toxic. Now just go. Please."

Skye sulked away as Jemma gave her another stern look.

"I was just trying to help out you know. Geez."

"Oh Skye. Just... I'm just busy. Maybe we can talk later. After I'm done working?"

Skye waved her hand. "Yeah, yeah, you're just always working," she mumbled as she made her way out of the lab and down the corridor. She kept going till she go to the garage planning to sit in one of the SUV's and sulk. Until she saw Fitz in the garage. He was working with the new mechanic, Mack. Skye's bounced over to them.

"Hey Leo whatcha doing?"

Leo looked up and smiled. "Just...um...you know..," he stuttered as he made wide sweeping motions with his arms.

"Looks cool. Can I help?"

Mack looked over the girl and sighed. "You a mechanic?"

She shook her head. "But I can help whatever you need."

"Right now I need to change the oil on this truck and I was trying to show Turbo here how to do that. I guess you can learn too. Pay attention."

"Oh I can do that. Change the oil. Me and Leo can do that."

"You can?" Mack's surprise was evident in his voice. Leo looked at her.

"Yeah I had a van. Old van, you know the eating oil kind of old van. Had to do that lots of times."

Mack hesitated. "Um well this vehicle here is..."

"Basically the same, right. Seriously Mack I got this, That's your name right, Mack? I get it, built like a Mack truck." Skye giggled. Leo rolled his eyes.

"Mackenzie. Last name."

"Oh." Skye shrugged her shoulders. "I'd go with the Mack truck thing. Much cooler. Come on Leo." She grabbed the oil pan and some tools and headed over to the SUV putting her head under the hood of the vehicle. Mack watched them and assuring himself the girl seemed to know what she was doing, he went back to tinkering with the engine in front of him.

Three SUV's and 2 hours later, Skye and Leo headed to the kitchen to grab some dinner. Mack had been impressed that the girl knew her way around the vehicles decently so he had them change the oil in three SUV's and by the third the girl was merely supervising Fitz. Mack was impressed.

Skye made a frozen pizza and some popcorn and they headed to Leo's room to watch some Dr. Who.

"Hey here." Leo reached into his little fridge in his room and pulled out two beers. They sat on his bed and ate and watched the screen.

Two episodes, and a pizza later Leo spoke to her. "May's okay?"

Skye looked over at him and smiled. "Yeah. Just needs to rest a couple days and let it heal. Bullet went through, which Jemma says was a good thing, and no major damage. Melinda called it a flesh wound. A flesh wound. Blood's pouring out her shoulder, and she's wincing from the pain and she shakes it off calling it a flesh wound."

"L..l...like.. Monty...P...P.."

"Monty Python. Yeah." Skye giggled. Then spoke in a bad English accent. "It's just a flesh wound. I'll be fine."

Leo winced. "Not, not the acc...accent. " He covered his face in his hands.

"Skye smacked him with his pillow. "It's not that bad."

He raised his eyebrows at her and rolled his eyes. "Horrible Skye. Worr...worse than hor...hor..horrible."

"I think you're just jealous of my fine accent capabilities." She continued in the accent.

Leo held his hands to his ears. ""They ...they... they're gon...gonna... bleed."

Skye jumped up. "Fine. I'm leaving if you're gonna be mean Leo."

"Skye. I'm sorry. I'm so...so... sorry you're accent ...um...um..." he got up and he waved his hands around.

"Was good?"

"Nah."

"Was awesome?"

"Sucked!"

Skye tackled him and they both fell on the bed laughing. Skye grabbed the popcorn bowl. "Another episode?"

He clicked the screen back on, reaching for some popcorn.


	8. Chapter 8

_So sorry that it has been so long since I posted a new chapter. I promise I'm still writing this and my other stories. I have been insanely busy with school and family stuff. I am off work for the summer now so the next update should not be as long in between. If you follow my other stories, new chapters coming soon for each one as well. And at least this chapter is pretty long._

 _I know this is not canon as much. May is much more emotional and talkative in my stories than in the show. And I've always loved Fitz and Skye's friendship and I was disappointed with how the show portrayed so little interaction between the two. So I made my own interactions. Coming next chapter after this - another mission - this one not smooth at all. Stay tuned. Comments make my day._

* * *

Skye opened her eyes as she slowly woke up. She was cocooned in a heavy blanket. Slowly her mind grasped that she was not alone. Laying next to her also wrapped in his own blanket was Leo. He was snoring lightly, laying on his side facing her. She smiled. She remembered grabbing the comforter and leaning her head onto his shoulder to watch a Monty Python movie. Neither of them wanted to be alone. They both must have fallen asleep. Looking at Leo she noticed just how young he looked while he slept. How innocent and calm. Her heart clenched as she thought of his struggles because of what Ward had done.

Skye moved slowly so as to not wake him, and sat up leaning against the wall. She looked at the clock on the night stand, seeing it was 6:30, her heart raced for a moment, till she remembered that Melinda would not be training her this morning. She thought about laying down and going back to sleep. But she was pretty much wide awake now, waking and training so early with May had conditioned her to not sleep in. She was still debating what she wanted to do when Fitz's door opened and May stood in the doorway. She was frowning.

"There you are. What are you doing in here?"

Skye blinked back at her SO trying to form words. "Um ...I ...I ..mean ..we...um... ...we...mustof...fallen...um...I thought we weren't...you said..." Skye stopped trying to talk and just widened her eyes at May.

Melinda looked at the startled girl and at the sleeping form of Fitz. Her face softened.

"No one could find you. We have a mission. I tried your cell too."

Fitz stirred and then sat up with a start. "Skye? Wh...what are you do...doooing here?"

"Um I forgot to charge my phone. Sorry." Skye directing that to May. To Fitz she grinned. "I guess we fell asleep."

"Ah yah. Last I re...re... um ah...yah...fell asleep." Leo tried to shrug out of his blanket. He made a face as he shook his head trying to wake up and focus.

Melinda looked at the two agents and grinned. They looked so young and she was hit with a memory of her and Phil doing the exact same thing back at the academy. Falling asleep in each others' rooms after a rough day of training or classes.

"Shake a leg Skye. Mission briefing in seven. You too Fitz."

With that Melinda turned and left the room. Skye tried to jump off the bed but her foot tangled in the comforter that Leo was trying to wiggle out off and she crashed to the floor instead.

"Fuck. Owe."

Leo peered over at her and started laughing. Skye was lying prone on the floor, her hair splayed around her and her foot still dangling from the comforter on the bed. His laughter turned to a full deep laugh as Skye joined in laughing with a few swear words thrown in. Melinda paused outside the door and felt a great weight lift. Fitz had a long road of recovery still ahead of him but Melinda knew that Skye would not let him do it alone. After all Skye had helped her recover most of herself already.

* * *

Melinda walked into Phil's office seeing everyone else already there. Small talk flowed as Melinda nodded at Phil. Less than two minutes later, Skye came running into the room with Fitz behind her. Melinda looked away after taking in the two, trying to not laugh out loud. Skye's hair was still uncombed, and she was missing footwear and one sock. Fitz's hair was plastered down but still sticking out on one side and his shirt was buttoned wrong and not tucked in. Skye was also sporting a new fairly large bruise on her arm. Skye walked over and stood next to Melinda while Fitz went to the back to lean against the window sill with Mack. Both tried to look nonchalant and blend in. Coulson just shook his head and started the meeting.

"We have intel that Quinn is continuing the super soldier research and we have found a few facilities controlled by Hydra. One, is already being infiltrated by undercover operatives and we are planning to send in more. But that's for later. Right now we have a bead on where Quinn is and we want him. So we are sending in a strike team. Hunter, Idaho, Hartley, Tripp - you four will go in and get Quinn if he's still there. Mack, you and Simmons and I are on the plane running tactical."

"Where are we sir?"

"You will stay here and run some searches for Raina. Some of the intel might led us to her and other Hydra operatives. Maybe Fitz can help you. And May is in charge."

Melinda rolled her eyes but nodded. She knew she would be more hindrance then help if she went along. They needed to move quick and she wasn't really doing that today.

Coulson continued. "So gear up. Tripp is going to have wheels up in fifteen."

Melinda turned around to watch everyone file out the door. Everyone except Skye. Skye turned toward Coulson angrily.

"Why do you make him come to these if he is never part of any of it? And why am I not going? I could get everyone into the building much faster with my by hacking and with no one the wiser. I don't need to stay here with May babysitting me."

May raised her eyebrows at her student. Coulson gave her a stern look and frowned. "You are not needed for this mission and I need you on the research here at the base. Fitz needs to be a part of the team even if he cannot get out there yet. As long as he's a Shield agent he attends briefings when asked. Anything else?"

Skye looked at Melinda then back to Coulson. She shook her head as she ran her hand through her unkempt hair. Three pieces of popcorn fell to the floor. Skye shot her eyes to the ground watching the kernels of popcorn lay there, turning just a bit red. Melinda walked by her intentionally knocking into her shoulder as she passed.

"You saving that for later?" She then laughed loudly and raucously as she stepped out the door. Coulson smirked and his eyes lit up.

"You do this stuff on purpose to get a laugh from her don't you?"

"I don't need to do anything on purpose AC, it comes naturally."

"Well. Keep up the good work."

Skye nodded, as she bent to pick up the popcorn, throwing it in the trash as she went to follow her SO out the door.

"Oh and Skye?"

She stopped and looked back. "Yeah?"

He stepped forward to pluck a sock sticking out from the bottom of her shirt. "You might want to put this on your foot." He tried not to laugh but wasn't able to.

Skye glared at him as she grabbed the sock from his hand. She stomped out the door. Coulson's laughter echoing behind her as she made her way to her room.

* * *

A couple hours later, Skye found herself rummaging around the fridge looking for food. It was only eleven but all she had for breakfast was tea and toast. She had been staring at the computer screen non stop as well, looking for clues to Raina's whereabouts and anything else she could flag Hydra, so between her growling stomach and slight headache she was in a pretty pissy mood. She slammed the door shut realizing there was nothing edible in it no matter how long she looked. She opened the freezer door and was about to grab for a frozen pizza, when she felt a presence in the room. She glanced over and saw Melinda watching her.

"You want to share a pizza?"

Melinda lips turned upward. "As tempting as that is," Melinda tilted her head at Skye and smirked at her, "I think I'd rather have Chinese take out."

Melinda laughed at the girl's reaction, as Skye shoved the pizza back in the freezer and bounced on her toes.

"Take out? Really? You're getting take out? OMG I love you May."

"You love take out Skye."

"Yeah that too. What are ya getting. Huh? Can I get sesame chicken? Please?"

"I already called in an order and I already sent Agent Piper to get it. Should be back in 30 minutes."

"Cool. Thanks." Skye paused. "So did you get sesame chicken?"

Melinda smiled and started to walk away. "Maybe."

Skye smiled and watched her leave. She turned and practically ran to Leo's room. She knocked once but opened the door not waiting for an answer. The room was empty. She thought for a moment and then ran back out to the garage. Sure enough Leo was there looking under the hood of one of the SUV's.

"Leopold Fitz! Melinda's getting Chinese take out!"

He looked up at her as she skidded to a stop beside him out of breathe.

"Yah. I know. She as...as...asked...me wh...wh..what I ...what I...to get."

Skye pouted. "She asked you what you wanted?"

"Yah."

"She didn't ask me."

Leo looked at his friend as her face looked like a kicked puppy's. He laughed.

"Th...that's c..c...cause I'm her fa...favorite. And yo..your...n..n...not."

Skye's face fell even further so that Leo started feeling bad for teasing her. "Uh yah, it's probably cause sh...sh..she knows wh..wh..what...um ...um...what..."

"What I want?"

Leo nodded. "Yah. That."

Skye smiled. "Yeah she knows I like sesame chicken best. She got some I'm sure. Right?"

Leo nodded again. Feeling a little better Skye moved closer to him.

Whacha doing anyway?"

"Ah you know...um...fixing the ...um..."

"Engine?"

He shook his head. "The um... those...,"he made circles with his left hand, " um..."

"Belts."

"Yah. Changing them. Mack showed me how. Keeps me ... um you know...um ...keeps my hands...um .."

"Busy?'

"Yah."

"Cool."

A few minutes later one of Shield's SUV's pulled into the garage. Skye looked up and saw Agents Piper and O'Brien getting out with bags in their arms. She skipped over to them.

"Hey guys. I'll take them."

Maggie Piper pulled away as Skye tried to grab the bags. "Agent May said to deliver these to her. I'm not disobeying that order."

O'Brien nodded to her. "Yeah don't blame you one bit. Those are all Agent May's, I'll take these to the others and meet you in the lounge."

Skye stood in front of Agent Piper. "She'll be fine if me and Leo take them. Hand them over Piper. I'm starving."

Leo walked over and looked at Agent Piper expectantly. He shrugged. She grumbled and thrust the bags in Skye's arms, then pointed to the backseat.

"She had us pick up that stuff too. You can take that to her as well." With that Piper walked quickly to join O'Brien and they disappeared through the door. Skye repositioned the bags better in her hands as Leo reached for the two bags on the seat. He grabbed one but could not get the other. Skye shoved a smaller bag to him and pushed it under his arm, and then grabbed the larger one from the seat and shut the door with her foot. They slowly made their way up to Melinda's office.

Skye hit the door with her foot, waiting until Melinda opened it and then shoved through the door with her bags. Leo hung back waiting for Melinda to invite him in which she did, taking the larger bag from his arm. Skye dropped the larger bag on the sofa and started reaching in the take out bags and setting the containers on Melinda's desk.

"I told Piper to bring all this stuff to me."

"Yah she said. But...um...Sk...Skye...um...she...she..."

"We were right there May. In the garage. I told her we'd take it."

"Of course you did."

Skye looked up and smiled. She had found the sesame chicken. "See Leo she does like me."

"Hmmmpf. More like I didn't want to hear your whining."

Leo laughed. Skye winked at Melinda who promptly scowled back at her.

"Oh come on Melinda. You're a softy. Just admit it. Me and Leo know anyway."

"Skye." Melinda's voice held a warning that took the grin off Leo's face. He glanced at May and saw her eyes shining with humor. He grinned again as he started rummaging for his food.

"I'm not afraid of you, you know." Skye grabbed her chicken and started filling up her plate. Leo filled his as well.

Melinda watched as both piled on chicken, noodles and rice. She turned away to pull two chairs to the desk for the young agents. "I know." She whispered as a grin crossed over her face.

Some time later Skye was leaning back in her chair moaning. "Ugh I ate too much."

Leo nodded in agreement. "Yah but it was so...so...good."

Skye nodded and then sighed. "Yep."

Melinda started closing containers as even with Skye and Leo having pigged out on the food, she had gotten enough for 8 people so there would be leftovers. She had to admit as well that she had eaten her fair share. Skye got up to stretch and the bags they had dumped on the sofa caught her eye. She looked to Melinda and then pounced on the bags. Melinda saw her and spoke up.

"Skye. What are you doing."

"Hmm me? I was just seeing what," Skye opened the first bag and peered inside, "else you got." Skye's eyes widened, then she glanced at Melinda. Skye smiled a goofy smile at her mentor. Then she started pulling stuff out of the bag.

"Red licorice. Cowtails. Oh my gosh May, cowtails! And look Leo," she held up some bars of chocolate, "The good chocolate. Gummy bears. Chips, and Doritos. Doritos Leo. Ranch Doritos!" Skye grabbed the other bag and started pulling stuff of that one too, commenting as she did. "Poptarts. More chocolate. Cookies. Toffee. Macaroons. Donuts. Leo, donuts!"

Leo was grinning as he watched back and forth between Skye and May. Skye's excitement like a kid opening Christmas presents under a tree, and May's obvious attempt to appear stoic but failing as her eyes flashed warmth and her lips turned upward. He watched as Skye put everything down and then practically leaped across the table to fling her arms around Melinda May. Melinda staggered for a moment and then Leo saw her wrap her arms around the younger woman and hold her. His mouth fell open as he watched Skye push in closer and lay her head on May's shoulder.

"Thanks Melinda."

"You're welcome Skye. You do know some of that stuff is for Fitz right?"

Skye laughed. "Okay, I'll share." She pulled away and looked at Leo, who still had his mouth hanging open. She giggled.

Melinda glanced at the young engineer and smirked. Skye spoke up then.

"I think Leo needs a hug too Melinda."

Leo startled and took a step back. Melinda laughed and reached over to give his shoulder a squeeze. Skye stepped into his space and hugged him tightly. She let him go quickly and glanced to her SO giving her a grin.

"Melinda bought us sugar Leo. She loves us."

Melinda walked over to the door. "Um you two clean up and put the rest of the food away. Take that stuff and hide it in your rooms unless you want Mack and Hunter finding it. So help me Skye if you get too hyper I'll never buy another thing for you again. Then go do something useful."

"Copy that." Skye saluted her.

Melinda sighed and rolled her eyes as she closed the door behind her. But she couldn't stop the smile that came as she made her way to her room. Phil would have had a field day with what she did. She stopped short realizing that Skye would tell him everything and he would do that eye thing and grin at her in his infuriating 'I know how you feel' way that drove her insane. She thought about going back and demanding Skye not say anything to him and then sighed. That would make her tell him even more. Her only hope that the whole base not finding out she did something nice was that it blew up. Or maybe another mission came up before Skye could talk to anyone. She could hope anyway.

* * *

It was almost midnight when the team arrived back at the Playground. Everyone was sleeping except Melinda. She greeted everyone as they got off the plane. Phil had checked in with her directly after the mission. It was a Hydra site, but Quinn was nowhere to be found. In fact, the place was deserted and the computers destroyed. The mission was a bust. Everyone headed to their bunks. Melinda followed Phil to his office.

"So nothing huh?"

Phil flung his jacket on the sofa. He turned and looked at her with exasperation. "They knew we were coming."

"Shit."

"Yeah. It's the clairvoyant all over again. One step ahead of us twice now."

"Well Trip's intel panned out."

" Yeah and you got shot. And we still have no idea where Raina and Quinn are, and who the Hydra leadership is. And we cannot keep taking the plane. Not without cloaking. Talbot almost caught us. Without Tripp doing some fancy maneuvering we would all be federal custody. We need to send someone in."

"Phil."

"Look you said she could handle it. She wants it. Fitz gets worse when he is around her. You've trained her some. Without anyone else knowing, she has to go in. She is willing. We need what she can tell us. Running in circles like this is getting us nowhere. And you know I'm getting worse. I don't know how long I can keep going like this."

"Phil, your fine. I make sure of that. I'm watching. But if you think she's ready then we'll do it. When?"

"I need to brief her and you need to train her a bit yet. Bobbi is setting it up from the inside. They will think they invited her. She needs a couple more days. Maybe by Thursday."

"Okay. I'll make sure she's ready. Bobbi say anything else?"

He shook his head. "Not really. She's snooping though. She's well established now, only took a couple months. But she still is only in security. Can't break through anywhere else yet. She did say a man named Bakshi fully trusts her. Thinks he's middle management."

"Well it's a start." She winced with pain, grabbing her shoulder as she moved closer to him.

"Melinda."

"Oh don't start with me Philip. I'm fine. I should be mission ready by tomorrow. You need to get to bed. Go. We'll talk more in the morning." Melinda turned to leave.

Phil stopped her gently reaching for her uninjured arm. "Mel."

She turned back and smiled. "I'm fine Phil. Really." She moved to the door. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight Melinda."

* * *

The next morning Skye was grumbling in the gym. Melinda had gotten her up at 6am and they were currently sparring. They already had run a couple miles throughout the base and finished Tai Chi. Now Melinda was teaching her a new move. A new move that Skye was not picking up. Melinda had thus far tossed her down on the mat four times cause Skye couldn't manage the new move. She was getting tired and pissed. She wiped a few straggles of hair off her sweating face as Melinda once again tried to explain what she was doing wrong. Skye tried to focus on Melinda, noticing she had barely broken a sweat. How she did that Skye wanted to...shit, shit. As her mind had been wondering May had once again tossed her like a rag doll onto the mats.

"What the hell?"

Skye looked up into her SO's not very amused face.

"Focus Skye. You need to focus."

"Yeah and you need to stop using me for your anger management therapy. Geez May that hurt."

"It wouldn't have hurt so much if you'd have been ready."

"So you knew I wasn't and you slammed me anyway? Are you trying to kill me?"

"I'm trying to save your life Skye. You need to be able to fight off anyone. Not just big lugs who rely on strength. Someday you may face someone as good as me. Or better. You cannot lose focus."

Melinda threw her hands in the air in frustration. "I'm done. You let me know when you want to take this seriously." She started to walk to the door.

"Hey. Come on." Skye sat up and watched as her SO was almost at the door. "Hey!" Skye stood. Just as Melinda was about to open the door Skye spoke again. "I'm sorry. Melinda please. I'm sorry."

Melinda stood holding onto the open door and sighed. She turned back letting the door close.

"Sorry enough to do it again?"

Skye met Melinda's eyes and nodded.

Melinda smiled wickedly. "I'm not going to go easy."

Skye nodded. Inside her mind she was grateful. Not only would Melinda never give up on her but she was always brutally honest. Two things Skye never had before. She grinned as she flew through the air landing once again on her back. She had one more thought about maybe this is what a family is before Melinda pulled her back up to try again.

* * *

Skye meandered threw the hallway eating a cowtail. She had two more stashed in her jeans pocket. She had just showered after training with May. Skye grinned. She finally had gotten the new move down. After literally dozens of times of being slammed to the ground and two days later she finally had stood her ground and taken May down. She wasn't sure who was actually happier she did it, but her heart swelled at the memory of Melinda's smile and praise. She turned the corner and almost ran right into Hunter stopping just short of him. He looked at her and grinned.

"See, you didn't have a big pile of clothes so you could see me."

Skye glared at him. "Move."

"Hey is that a cowtail? Where'd ya get that?" He reached toward her pocket to grab one.

She brushed his hand away and stared daggers at him. "Are you insane?"

"What? You could share you know."

Just then Hartley came down the hallway.

"Right Izzy? She could share. She's holding out on us. Look, candy."

Izzy looked at Skye and back to Hunter. "Hunter stop being an ass. Hey Skye , you seen May?"

"Not since training. You check her office?"

"Yeah that's where I'm coming from. Guess I'll check the gym again. Come on Hunter, leave the girl alone."

"Why. She's got candy and ..."

Skye shook her head and walked away from the pair.

"Shut up Hunter. May will shoot you if you keep bothering her kid."

Skye stopped and looked back as the two turned a corner and disappeared. Wait, did she say kid?

* * *

Skye was sitting in Fitz's room working on her computer. She hadn't seen May all day since training but figured she was off doing something with Hartley. She looked up at Fitz who was also doing some searches on his computer. He looked tired. She probably should leave and let him get to bed.

"Hey I'm gonna finish up these last ones in my room and then go to bed. You should probably do the same."

"Yah okay."

"Hey you talk to Simmons today?"

"No why?"

"I dunno. Just seems like you're avoiding her. Are you?"

"Skye. I don...don't...wa...want...to..." He waved his hand to dismiss the question.

"Okay but you should talk to her. I know she misses you being around in the lab."

He shrugged his shoulders. Skye reached over to touch his arm. "Okay I'll stop. Get some sleep 'kay?"

"Yah."

"I mean it Leo." He smiled and nodded as she got up. She walked back to her own room. She slipped into a tank top and shorts and crawled into bed. She laid her computer on the table and slid under the blankets.

* * *

The alarm on her computer was blaring. She woke up, disoriented as the computer kept dinging. She grabbed it and shut off the annoying signal. She did a double take at the information. They'd found Raina. Skye quickly grabbed her computer and ran out the door. She arrived in front of her SO's room and knocked on the door. It swung open in seconds and Melinda May stood glaring at her.

"What?"

"I found Raina."

Melinda's eyebrows shot up as she stared at her student. She pulled her into the room.

"Where is she?"

"Virginia Beach. Well or near there. Her pic popped at a bar there."

"You're sure?"

"Look." She showed her the intel.

May checked the time, it was only 4am. She started throwing off her clothes and getting into her uniform.

"Skye suit up and then met me in Coulson's office. Bring the computer. We might only have a small window. She could lead us to Hydra or maybe even Quinn."

"Copy that."

Skye turned and raced back to her room. She got dressed and ran to Coulson's office. Melinda was there talking to Coulson and Trip. Hartley came in directly after Skye and a few moments later Idaho and Hunter showed as well.

Coulson started the meeting and within five minutes Skye, May, Trip and Hartley were gearing up. They were driving, cause they could not chance taking the plane with Talbot looking for them. It was a huge plantation that was purchased recently and Raina's name came up. Also Skye had her I.D.'d at several local places in Norfolk and Virginia Beach. It was a small op with just the four of them. In and out, find Raina and see what she was up to. Get intel if they could, that was Skye's job. Skye took a deep breathe to calm down. She watched as May stashed ammo and clips in her backpack. Skye armed herself with two knives and her gun. She was about to put extra icer clips in her own backpack when May stopped her.

"No icers Skye. Grab clips." May came around to her and handed her an extra gun. " In the backpack." Skye obliged. She watched as Hartley placed a number of knives on her body. Trip placed his gun in his holster and then grabbed one of the sniper rifles. He loaded clips in his belt. Hartley nodded at her as she strapped the gun to her leg and picked up a rifle as well.

"We're taking an SUV. I'll drive. Skye up front with me. Make sure your comms work now. Let's go."

The four agents piled into the SUV. Coulson stood by the drivers door.

"Remember, intel is priority. Get what you can. Stay safe."

Melinda nodded. She turned on the SUV and backed out of the garage door that Idaho was holding open. Skye looked up and saw Leo wave to her. She waved back and gave him a thumbs up with a smile. Melinda watched Skye wave to Leo and her stomach lurched. For some strange reason she had a bad feeling about this mission. She shoved it aside and drove off down the road. They had a two and a half hour ride ahead.


End file.
